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
Rather than pushing forward, some avoid completing tasks altogether, procrastinating, delaying decisions, or walking away before the finish line.
—
Luciana Paulise, Forbes.com, 24 Apr. 2025
If your child is procrastinating on homework, don’t yell at them, said Stixrud — instead, firmly and lovingly remind them of their responsibilities.
—Tom Huddleston Jr., CNBC, 9 Apr. 2025
Related article These people stopped procrastinating.
—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
See All Example Sentences for procrastinate
Luciana Paulise, Forbes.com, 24 Apr. 2025
If your child is procrastinating on homework, don’t yell at them, said Stixrud — instead, firmly and lovingly remind them of their responsibilities.
—Tom Huddleston Jr., CNBC, 9 Apr. 2025
Related article These people stopped procrastinating.
—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
See All Example Sentences for procrastinate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for procrastinate
Verb
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Apple looks to have delayed the release of the new macOS hardware into 2026.—
Ewan Spence,
Forbes.com,
13 July 2025
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The flight has since been delayed and is now expected to depart from Sydney at 7:25 a.m.—
Brenton Blanchet,
People.com,
12 July 2025
Verb
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In Sutton, Texas, flooding caused cars to stall on Interstate 10 and water was approaching some homes, according to the National Weather Service.—
Chris Boyette,
CNN Money,
13 July 2025
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The Kids Online Safety Act was reintroduced to Congress in May after stalling in 2024.—
Zach Vallese,
CNBC,
11 July 2025
Verb
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In particular, website owners and SEO experts wanted to know how Cloudflare planned to block Google's bot from scraping sites to fuel AI overviews without risking blocking the same bot from crawling for valuable search engine placements.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
9 July 2025
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Both are unable, under any circumstances, to resist crawling under someone doing a downward-facing dog.—
Erika Sjule,
New Yorker,
8 July 2025
Verb
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That’s good for everyone, even expat journalists dragging their kids along to cover a new story.—
Matthew Martin,
semafor.com,
11 July 2025
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The plucky little superdog drags Superman to the Fortress of Solitude, where he is treated by a posse of robots.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
11 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Procrastinate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/procrastinate. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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