tardy

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: tar=dy

CIDE DICTIONARY

tardy, a. [F. tardif, fr. (assumed) LL. tardivus, fr. L. tardus slow.].

•  Moving with a slow pace or motion; slow; not swift.  [1913 Webster]

  "And check the tardy flight of time."  [1913 Webster]

  "Tardy to vengeance, and with mercy brave."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not being inseason; late; dilatory; -- opposed to prompt; as, to be tardy in one's payments.  Arbuthnot.  [1913 Webster]

  "The tardy plants in our cold orchards placed."  [1913 Webster]
•  Unwary; unready.  Hudibras.  [1913 Webster]
•  Criminal; guilty.  Collier.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Slow; dilatory; tedious; reluctant. See Slow.

tardy, v. t. 

 To make tardy.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

tardy, adj. (tardier, tardiest)
1 slow to act or come or happen.
2 delaying or delayed beyond the right or expected time.

Derivative

tardily adv. tardiness n.

Etymology

F tardif, tardive ult. f. L tardus slow

THESAURUS

tardy

ahead of time, anachronistic, antedated, arrested, back, backward, beforehand, behind, behind time, behindhand, belated, blocked, checked, dated, delayed, delayed-action, detained, dilatory, early, foredated, held up, hung up, impeded, in a bind, in abeyance, indolent, jammed, lackadaisical, languid, late, latish, lethargic, listless, metachronistic, misdated, mistimed, moratory, never on time, obstructed, out of date, out of season, overdue, parachronistic, past due, phlegmatic, postdated, prochronistic, reluctant, retarded, set back, slack, slothful, slow, slowed down, sluggish, stopped, unpunctual, unready, unseasonable, untimely

ROGET THESAURUS

tardy

Lateness

N lateness, tardiness, delay, delation, cunctation, procrastination, deferring, deferral, postponement, adjournment, prorogation, retardation, respite, pause, reprieve, stay of execution, protraction, prolongation, Fabian policy, medecine expectante, chancery suit, federal case, leeway, high time, moratorium, holdover, late, tardy, slow, behindhand, serotine, belated, postliminious, posthumous, backward, unpunctual, untimely, delayed, postponed, dilatory, delayed, in abeyance, late, lateward, backward, late in the day, at sunset, at the eleventh hour, at length, at last, ultimately, after time, behind time, after the deadline, too late, too late for, slowly, leisurely, deliberately, at one's leisure, ex post facto, sine die, nonum prematur in annum, against the sunbeams serotine and lucent, ie meglio tardi che mai, deliberando saepe perit occasio.

Slowness

N slowness, languor, drawl, creeping, lentor, retardation, slackening, delay, claudication, jog trot, dog trot, mincing steps, slow march, slow time, slow goer, slow coach, slow back, lingerer, loiterer, sluggard, tortoise, snail, poke, dawdle, slow, slack, tardy, dilatory, gentle, easy, leisurely, deliberate, gradual, insensible, imperceptible, glacial, languid, sluggish, slow paced, tardigrade, snail-like, creeping, reptatorial, slowly, leisurely, piano, adagio, largo, larghetto, at half speed, under easy sail, at a foots pace, at a snail's pace, at a funeral pace, in slow time, with mincing steps, with clipped wings, haud passibus aequis, gradually, gradatim, by degrees, by slow degrees, by inches, by little and little, step by step, one step at a time, inch by inch, bit by bit, little by little, seriatim, consecutively, dum Roma deliberat Saguntum perit, at a glacial pace.