as in delay
a state, a habit, or an instance of being slow or late about doing something that should be done
Though she has a tendency towards procrastination, she never fails to turn in her papers on time.
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Recent Examples of procrastination
City planning, procrastination, pomp and circumstance aside, the planet’s biggest sporting has arrived.
—
Gavin Godfrey, AJC.com, 17 June 2026
The low-pressure gatherings taking place in coffee shops, accommodating bars and private homes are intended to turn tedious and procrastination-inducing adult responsibilities into productive time with a twist.
—ABC News, 3 June 2026
Read the Bee’s full guide to Election Day procrastination here.
—Camryn Dadey, Sacbee.com, 3 June 2026
No amount of procrastination can undo the fact that language forces a decision about who is speaking, who is addressed, and who is being spoken about.
—Erika Landström, Artforum, 2 June 2026
The sports ticket market generally doesn’t reward procrastination but this one might.
—Dan Zaksheske Outkick, FOXNews.com, 13 May 2026
Caroline first learned about the Hole in her twenties by reading mommy blogs, a form of procrastination less about satisfying any conscious curiosity about motherhood and more about finding comfort in the easy intimacy with which these women wrote about their own lives.
—Literary Hub, 9 Apr. 2026
When the future feels uncertain, paralysis can look like procrastination.
—Ali Kaufman, Sun Sentinel, 7 Apr. 2026
The Trimmer understands that a strategic delay is not procrastination, but a patient wait until the situation clarifies itself.
—David Brooks, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Gavin Godfrey, AJC.com, 17 June 2026
The low-pressure gatherings taking place in coffee shops, accommodating bars and private homes are intended to turn tedious and procrastination-inducing adult responsibilities into productive time with a twist.
—ABC News, 3 June 2026
Read the Bee’s full guide to Election Day procrastination here.
—Camryn Dadey, Sacbee.com, 3 June 2026
No amount of procrastination can undo the fact that language forces a decision about who is speaking, who is addressed, and who is being spoken about.
—Erika Landström, Artforum, 2 June 2026
The sports ticket market generally doesn’t reward procrastination but this one might.
—Dan Zaksheske Outkick, FOXNews.com, 13 May 2026
Caroline first learned about the Hole in her twenties by reading mommy blogs, a form of procrastination less about satisfying any conscious curiosity about motherhood and more about finding comfort in the easy intimacy with which these women wrote about their own lives.
—Literary Hub, 9 Apr. 2026
When the future feels uncertain, paralysis can look like procrastination.
—Ali Kaufman, Sun Sentinel, 7 Apr. 2026
The Trimmer understands that a strategic delay is not procrastination, but a patient wait until the situation clarifies itself.
—David Brooks, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for procrastination
Noun
-
Caguas Mayor William Miranda Torres said that a bottleneck of pending projects is driving up costs, which in turn causes more delays.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
12 June 2026
-
That gap is where signal blindness, misalignment, bottlenecks, execution delays and weak learning loops quietly convert external change into our fragilities.—
Christopher Washington,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2026
Noun
-
The company also developed collision-avoidance software that prevents the robot’s arms from interfering with each other during operation.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
15 June 2026
-
Revonsuo proposed that dreaming itself is an ancient biological defense mechanism, shaped by natural selection to rehearse threat perception and avoidance during sleep.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2026
Noun
-
The Seahawks have uncertainty at running back, as Kenneth Walker signed with the Chiefs, and Zach Charbonnet is recovering from a torn ACL.—
Jeff Howe,
New York Times,
16 June 2026
-
Uncertainty across the region The news of peace came with a sense of bewilderment and uncertainty in a region that suffered collateral damage through months of war.—
Nabih Bulos,
Los Angeles Times,
15 June 2026
Noun
-
After more than a year of waiting and a few delays, a new spot for big burgers, breakfast sandwiches and more is coming a short drive past the Charlotte border.—
Heidi Finley,
Charlotte Observer,
16 June 2026
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More than 40 years ago, the Florida Supreme Court struck down a nearly identical five-year waiting period for new residents to benefit from a property tax break.—
Lawrence Mower Herald,
Miami Herald,
16 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Procrastination.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/procrastination. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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