delay

The word “delay” means a period of waiting before something happens; a hold-up. In plain terms, putting something off, or the wait that happens before something occurs.

“Delay” is pronounced dih-LAY (/dɪˈleɪ̯/ in IPA).

Here is “delay” used in a sentence: “There was a two-hour delay at the airport because of fog.”

Words with a similar meaning to “delay” include hold-up, deferment, dilation, detain, hinder and hesitance.

Depending on how it is used, “delay” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “delay” comes from Old French. From Old French delaier, ultimately tied to Old Frankish roots meaning "to hinder" — a distant cousin of the word "dally.".

“Delay” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A2 level.

“Delay” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a period of waiting before something happens; a hold-up.

A delay is any hold-up that makes something happen later than expected, often unplanned and out of your control, like a traffic delay. A postponement is a deliberate decision to move something to a later time or date. One usually just happens; the other is chosen on purpose.

A flight held on the runway for an hour, a train arriving late, a parcel that takes extra days, or a meeting that starts behind schedule are all delays. In each case there is a period of waiting before the thing finally happens — a hold-up between the expected time and the real one.

Delays arise from anything that interrupts a schedule — bad weather, technical faults, heavy traffic, staff shortages, waiting on approvals, or unexpected problems. Whether the cause is mechanical, human, or environmental, the result is the same: a period of waiting before something can happen, pushing it later than planned.

There is no single perfect antonym, but the opposite idea is promptness, punctuality, or something happening on time or even ahead of schedule. Where a delay adds waiting and pushes an event later, being early or on time removes that hold-up entirely.