dilatory

dila·tory (dil′ə tôr′ē)

adjective

Etymology: ME dilatorie < LL dilatorius < L dilator, dilatory person < dilatus, pp. of differre, defer

dil′a·to′·rily adverb dil′a·to′·ri·ness noun

modif.

tardy, procrastinating, lazy; see late 1, slow 2.

Modifies a noun

tactic: It would be in character from him to employ dilatory tactics like Assad.
attitude: It also criticized the " dilatory attitude " of the immigration service, which inspectors said were not monitoring those liable for deportation.
procedure: Other rigidities compound the problem, for example the control of staff by arbitrary head count, and the dilatory procedures for filling vacancies.
way: Of course my dilatory way of replying to all letters makes it far worse.

Modifying Another Word

somewhat: Britain was a somewhat dilatory in providing letter boxes.

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