DELAYS Synonyms: 140 Similar and Opposite Words

delays 1 of 2

noun

plural of delay

as in waits

an instance or period of being prevented from going about one's business there was a delay for our boarding while the airplane unloaded incoming passengers

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

delays

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of delay

as in lingers

to move or act slowly she ordered the kids to stop delaying and to get to bed

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in postpones

to assign to a later time our guests delayed their departure until after dinner

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of delays

Noun

Flight delays, unexpected crises, intense periods of business development, or simply the weight of responsibility can all disrupt a leader’s sleep. — Julian Hayes Ii, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026 However, delays remain a major challenge as shipyards struggle with capacity, materials, and experienced workers. — Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2026 Due to high traffic, the website is experiencing some technical delays. — Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2026 The DeKalb County School District was also notified about possible delays affecting student transportation in the Browns Mill Ferry Road area. — Cbs News Atlanta Digital Team, CBS News, 28 Aug. 2026 The NextGens often had issues with their passenger doors, which caused delays in the early days. — Natalie B. Compton, Washington Post, 28 Aug. 2026 Today, nearly 1 in 5 Americans (18%) have experienced delays or availability issues involving critical prescriptions or medical products, according to a National Institutes of Health report, putting timely access to treatment at risk. — Marc Saltzman, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026 The game’s release has faced several setbacks including leaks, delays and economic uncertainty. — Tanya Fedak, Variety, 28 Aug. 2026 That includes bringing in physical and cybersecurity assistance for county clerks, mailing ballots earlier to minimize problems from delays, and creating a provision to allow the governor to declare an emergency in case of interference. — Nick Coltrain, Denver Post, 22 Aug. 2026

Verb

Nearly all report that the process contributes to burnout and delays care. — Richard Menger Md Mpa, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2026 Cellphone use before bed delays the natural drop in cortisol that teenagers need to fall asleep, according to Alice Hoagland, PhD, director of the Insomnia Clinic at the Rochester Regional Sleep Disorder Center. — Samantha Agate, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Aug. 2026 Brooklyn Village delays There’s been two major delays in the past 10 years. — Desiree Mathurin, Charlotte Observer, 6 Aug. 2026 If a hotel or event venue delays an update, an attacker may exploit that opening and take control. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 2 Aug. 2026 His isolation is not that of a man locked up in a room but a man who delays going into that room for as long as possible. — Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 1 Aug. 2026 Along with the tax hike, the agreement settled upon by Newsom and lawmakers last week delays the governor’s plans to cut or freeze Medi-Cal coverage for immigrants without legal status until next summer. — Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 8 July 2026 Teplizumab – a form of immunotherapy – binds to immune cells to slow their attack and so delays the need to take insulin by two to three years. — The Week Uk, TheWeek, 6 July 2026 As such, Propco must reapply for permits before resuming construction, which delays the project’s completion until the middle of 2027, according to the documents. — Jennifer Van Grove, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for delays

Noun

At Ningbo, Gemini services were waiting an average of four to five days, while non-Gemini vessels were facing waits of three to six days, according to Hapag-Lloyd.

— Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 27 Aug. 2026
Stephen Hunt, chief development officer for VRT, told the council that virtually every rider complaint from long waits at the Senior Center to circuitous routes traced back to a lack of funding rather than mismanagement.

— Noah Daly August 20, Idaho Statesman, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of waits

Verb

The injury postpones any plans to send the 20-year-old out on loan.

— Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026
Or someone managing diabetes who postpones a preventive visit because grocery shopping, prescription pickups, and coordinating multiple specialists compete for limited time and energy.

— Aimée K. Dailey, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of postpones

Verb

As the conflict drags on, damage to the Middle East will extend far beyond infrastructure.

— Dina Esfandiary, Foreign Affairs, 27 Aug. 2026
And while American and Israeli strikes have battered Iran for months, the conflict has also taken a toll on Pentagon resources and American lives as the war drags on.

— Steven Beynon, ABC News, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of drags

Verb

Hairy-nosed wombat births are hard to spot, as after about a 30-day pregnancy, the joey crawls into its mother’s pouch.

— Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 16 Aug. 2026
Researchers have developed a new control framework that enables humanoid robots to perform agile movements, including army crawls, breakdancing and backflips.

— Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 12 Aug. 2026

Definition of crawls

Verb

Even in the bathrooms, the toilet and bidet are concealed inside a kind of Travertine bench and the showerhead pokes out from a monolithic stone slab.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Aug. 2026
This is strong language, which pokes at our tribal memory of gasoline shortages from the 1970’s.

— George Calhoun, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026

Definition of pokes

Verb

But the reflation boost appears to be petering out as much of the price recovery has been driven by surging global energy costs, while domestic demand lags.

— Anniek Bao, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2026
The primary reason for this chasm between psychiatry and the rest of medicine is that knowledge about the biological basis of mental disorders lags behind other medical disorders.

— Anand Kumar, The Conversation, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of lags

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“Delays.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/delays. Accessed 30 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of delays

noun

verb

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