First recorded in 1890–95
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In a delayed-action scenario, debt in 2050-51 would be 23% of GDP higher than in the early-action scenario, it said.
From Reuters • Jul. 6, 2021
Mr. Lewis remembers the devastation of delayed-action explosive devices left by the Germans and the “slag heap” from the eruption of Vesuvius, just southeast of Naples, in March 1944.
From New York Times • Nov. 28, 2017
One person close to the family described her influence as a delayed-action fuse: at times the president will mention a point Ms. Trump made, uncredited, days later.
From New York Times • Apr. 15, 2017
But Matt strikes back with a delayed-action automatic, a bugged harmonica and a rocket-launching cigarette.
From Time Magazine Archive
Once we were seated to Dad’s satisfaction, he would focus, tell us to smile, click the delayed-action release, and race for the driver’s seat.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
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.
