procrastinate

procrastinate
prevaricate, procrastinate
Because their meanings, or at least the implications of their meanings, overlap, these two words are often confused. To prevaricate (derived from Latin praevaricari meaning literally ‘to walk crookedly’) is ‘to speak or act evasively’, whereas to procrastinate (derived from Latin cras meaning ‘tomorrow’) is ‘to put off or delay’. You might prevaricate in order to procrastinate, but the senses should be carefully distinguished. Examples:

• She prevaricated, wanting the story verified or denied before sharing it with him —L. Grant-Adamson, 1989

• Coleridge never arrived, and early in January the now beleaguered Southey decided that his endlessly procrastinating friend must be brought back from London —T. Mayberry, 1992.


Modern English usage. 2014.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Procrastinate — Pro*cras ti*nate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Procrastinated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Procrastinating}.] [L. procrastinatus, p. p. of procrastinare to procrastinate; pro forward + crastinus of to morrow, fr. cras to morrow.] To put off till to morrow, or from …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Procrastinate — Pro*cras ti*nate, v. i. To delay; to be dilatory. [1913 Webster] I procrastinate more than I did twenty years ago. Swift. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • procrastinate — I verb adjourn, be dilatory, be idle, be inert, be neglectful, block, dally, dawdle, defer, delay, differre, dilly dally, do nothing, filibuster, gain time, hang back, hesitate, hold back, hold up, idle, keep one waiting, kill time, lag, let… …   Law dictionary

  • procrastinate — (v.) 1580s, from L. procrastinare (see PROCRASTINATION (Cf. procrastination)). Related: Procrastinated; procrastinating …   Etymology dictionary

  • procrastinate — *delay, lag, dawdle, loiter Analogous words: *defer, suspend, stay, postpone: protract, prolong (see EXTEND) Antonyms: hasten, hurry …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • procrastinate — [v] delay, put off doing adjourn, be dilatory, cool*, dally, dawdle, defer, drag, drag one’s feet*, give the run around*, goldbrick*, hang fire*, hesitate, hold off, lag*, let slide, linger, loiter, pause, play a waiting game*, play for time*,… …   New thesaurus

  • procrastinate — ► VERB ▪ delay or postpone action. DERIVATIVES procrastination noun procrastinator noun. ORIGIN Latin procrastinare defer till the morning …   English terms dictionary

  • procrastinate — [prō kras′tə nāt΄, prəkras′tə nāt΄] vi., vt. procrastinated, procrastinating [< L procrastinatus, pp. of procastinare < pro , forward (see PRO 2) + crastinus, belonging to the morrow < cras, tomorrow] to put off doing (something… …   English World dictionary

  • procrastinate — [[t]proʊkræ̱stɪneɪt[/t]] procrastinates, procrastinating, procrastinated VERB If you procrastinate, you keep leaving things you should do until later, often because you do not want to do them. [FORMAL] Most often we procrastinate when faced with… …   English dictionary

  • procrastinate — UK [prəʊˈkræstɪneɪt] / US [proʊˈkræst(ə)nˌeɪt] verb [intransitive] Word forms procrastinate : present tense I/you/we/they procrastinate he/she/it procrastinates present participle procrastinating past tense procrastinated past participle… …   English dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”