adjective
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occurring later than expected
tardy retribution
-
slow in progress, growth, etc
a tardy reader
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of tardy
First recorded in 1475–85; earlier tardive, tardif, from Old French, from unattested Vulgar Latin tardīvus, equivalent to Latin tard(us) “slow” + -īvus adjective suffix; see -ive
Explanation
When you're tardy, you're late. If you've ever been late for school, you know about tardy, and you may have a stash of notes your teacher has sent home to your parents, informing them of your tardiness. You may be tardy for an appointment because you got stuck in traffic, or maybe you just slept late and you don't have good time management skills. Whatever the excuse, being tardy almost always annoys whoever's waiting for you. As a reality TV star once crooned, "Don't be tardy for the party." The word comes from the Latin tardus, meaning "slow."
Vocabulary lists containing tardy
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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:
Those of us who languish in the academic wasteland are too tardy to lament, so little has changed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
The latest, if tardy, look at the labor market wasn’t so bad at first glance.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 20, 2025
In October 2013, the inflation and employment reports for the prior month were also tardy by nearly two weeks because of a 16-day government shutdown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
In the blurb to the exhibition, Wintour writes that she has “probably spent a year of my life waiting for fashion shows, which are famously tardy, to begin”.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2024
Still, even they would have to punish her if she was tardy.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
The next morning he slept over; was tardier at his desk than he has almost ever been, arriving shortly after ten.
From Time Magazine Archive
French, like English, which had a yet tardier literary growth, has pursued its course unhasting, unresting, to the present hour.
From A Short History of French Literature by George Saintsbury
"Your heels are tardier now than they were at Worcester!"
From The Pigeon Pie by Charlotte Mary Yonge
Merion pursued, at greater distance still, With tardier coursers, and inferior skill.
From The Iliad by Alexander Pope
So there, Nor tardier, to his toil the Lord of Flame 478 Springs from his couch of down, the workmen's task to frame.
From The Æneid of Virgil Translated into English Verse by E. Fairfax Taylor by Edward Fairfax Taylor
TAP Air Portugal is one of the tardiest of airlines.
From Seattle Times ● May 1, 2023
The tardiest opening gavel was only 15 minutes late; with Missouri's vote, Nixon's renomination came only eight minutes late.
From Time Magazine Archive
Each waited long before his opportunity came; each learned that the "tardiest of the immortals are the boon Hours."
From The Galaxy, April, 1877 Vol. XXIII.—April, 1877.—No. 4. by Various
Barely had the tardiest Intelligencer employees got away when the enveloping jaws of the weed closed tight, catching millions of dollars' worth of property within.
From Greener Than You Think by Ward Moore
America has been the tardiest among all the industrial nations to undertake this kind of social reform.
From Modern Economic Problems Economics Volume II by Frank Albert Fetter
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