as in to delay
to be slow or late about doing something that should be done; to delay doing something until a later time because you do not want to do it, because you are lazy, etc.
He procrastinated and missed the submission deadline. He told her to stop procrastinating and get to work.
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Recent Examples of procrastinate
Related article These people stopped procrastinating.
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Mary E. Dozier, CNN, 16 Mar. 2025
Up to 5,000 Loyalty Points from American Airlines Last-minute travel planners (and those who like to procrastinate) are being rewarded this month.
—Ramsey Qubein, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2025
By now, most with significant others (who did NOT procrastinate and wait until the last minute,) have already gone out to buy the requisite greeting cards and chocolates.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 14 Feb. 2025
Laura Levine/Corbis, via Getty Images Ten creative minds on how to start, pivot and productively procrastinate.
—Kate Guadagnino, New York Times, 21 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for procrastinate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for procrastinate
Verb
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Meanwhile, Boeing’s project has been hampered by stress corrosion cracks on the planes and excessive noise in the cabins from the decompression system, among other issues that have delayed delivery, according to a Government Accountability Office report released last year.—
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Last year, the NFL reported a 20,000% increase in unauthorized drone activity over games between 2017 and 2023, some of which delayed games.—
Verb
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Around the time of On’s 2021 initial public offering, Nike saw declining sales during a pullback from wholesale retailers and stalling innovation.—
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On the regulatory front, his businesses face less scrutiny as some government investigations into them have been closed, stalled or thrown into disarray, thanks in part to Musk’s own efforts with DOGE to defund and gut multiple federal agencies.—
Verb
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The Zenbook crawled to the finish line in every test.—
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The men allegedly crawled out of the hole to a loading dock, scaled an exterior concrete wall of the jail complex and darted across a freeway to freedom.—
Verb
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Over the Great Plains, the high-level flow of winds has been pushing the smoke south, and shifting upper-level winds from the west will drag the smoke over the eastern states, according to The Weather Channel.—
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The phone call between Trump and Putin came as the war, which has dragged on for nearly 3.5 years, shows no signs of abating despite mounting pressure for a diplomatic breakthrough.—
Cite this Entry
“Procrastinate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/procrastinate. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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