dillydally
Americanverb (used without object)
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dillydallies,
present (3rd person singular)
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dillydallied,
past participle, past
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dillydallying
present participle
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dillydallysimple
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dillydalliessimple
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have dillydalliedperfect
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has dillydalliedperfect
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am dillydallyingprogressive
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are dillydallyingprogressive
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is dillydallyingprogressive
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have been dillydallyingperfect progressive
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has been dillydallyingperfect progressive
Past
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dillydalliedsimple
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had dillydalliedperfect
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was dillydallyingprogressive
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were dillydallyingprogressive
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had been dillydallyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dillydally
First recorded in 1735–45; gradational reduplication of dally
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Because if I dillydally for too long, I’m here all day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
“We’re talking about war-fighting, national security, and going against a competitor here and a potential adversary that is like nothing we’ve ever seen. And we can’t dillydally around with these deliveries.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2023
Simpson has worked with other directors who don’t dillydally.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2017
Yes she did, and in no mood to dillydally about it, either.
From Time Magazine Archive
I saw that you were tempted by the fear of not seeming a patriot to dillydally with the situation and avoid expressing yourself in perspicuous language.
From Search-Light Letters by Robert Grant
In reworking Voigt's escapade, Scriptwriter Zuckmayer dillydallies interminably in the soupy background of the hoax, gets down to the actual romp only in the last third of the film.
From Time Magazine Archive
The wife is soon marking time with an Italian movie director, and the writer dillydallies with a local marchesa who wickedly dots her toes with perfume.
From Time Magazine Archive
So it’s not as if the plaintiffs dillydallied in bringing their challenge.
From Slate ● Dec. 5, 2025
All three airlines I contacted delayed, obfuscated or otherwise dillydallied before getting me answers, but let’s start with your travel agent, American Express.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2024
Revealing an uncharacteristic lack of decision, the emperor dillydallied, then trusted the English to be honorable and soon found himself en route to St. Helena.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 3, 2021
Meanwhile, Major League Baseball has dillydallied over hiring female umpires for years, but has still never lifted a female ump above the Double-A level.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2014
He had delayed and dillydallied in order to give his horse time to eat.
From Gabriel Tolliver A Story of Reconstruction by Joel Chandler Harris
Put one in airplanes to get dillydallying passengers into their seats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2023
"He's not going to be dillydallying," Fodeman said.
From Reuters ● Jan. 4, 2023
“Why are we dillydallying in protecting a child? The lack of serious urgency about this case is disturbing,” she added.
From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2018
The pressure he said, would stop investors from dillydallying, helping to create a "true marketplace."
From Washington Post ● Aug. 29, 2016
In any case, Pastor Howard was expecting me and no amount of dillydallying would change that fact.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
