procrastinate
verbUK /pɹəʊˈkɹæs.tɪ.neɪt/ · US /pɹoʊˈkɹæs.tə.neɪt/
Etymology First attested in 1548; from Latin prōcrastinātus, perfect passive participle of prōcrastinō (“defer, put off till tomorrow”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from prō- (“in favor of”) + crāstinus (“of or belonging to tomorrow”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), from crās (“tomorrow”).
1
To delay taking action; to wait until later.
- He procrastinated until the last minute and had to stay up all night to finish.
2
To put off; to delay (something).
- Hence It became manifest to the publishers of Webster, that some device must be resorted to, to induce apathy in the publick mind, and thereby procrastinate the inevitable crisis which they foresaw was approaching, the expulsion of his elementary works from our primary schools.1816, John Pickering, A vocabulary; or, Collection of words and phrases, page 4:
- Synonyms
29 terms
procrastine, delay, penelopize, stall, postpone, put off, adjourn, avert, defer, dilly-dally, draw out, extend, forslow, forestall, forestay, kick into the long grass, kick the can down the road, procrastinate, prolong, prorogue, prorogate, protract, put on hold, put on ice, retard, roll back, stay, suspend, tarry- Antonyms
- precrastinate, advance, antedate, bring forward, expedite, hasten, jump on, prepone, rush, shoot first and ask questions later, speed up, take action
- Derived terms
- cryocrastinate, nonprocrastinating, procrastibaking, procrastinatingly, procrastination, procrastinative, procrastinatory, procrasturbate, unprocrastinated, unprocrastinating, procrastinator
- Related terms
- perendinate, tomorrow never comes, procrastination is the thief of time, deferment
- Hypernyms
- loiter, waste time
- Hyponyms
- hinder, penelopize, perendinate, procrasturbate, stall, wait