temporize
verb (used without object)
to be indecisive or evasive to gain time or delay acting.
temporise
-
a variation of
temporize.
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.
He replied to Chapuys’s entreaties that, although he could not in conscience abandon his aunt and cousin, yet the Ambassador must temporise.
From The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon The Story as Told by the Imperial Ambassadors Resident at the Court of Henry VIII by J.A. Froude
You are right—it is better to temporise, to postpone a decision.
From The Daughter Pays by Mrs. Baillie Reynolds
Laura had determined to temporise, and also to counterplot.
From By Birth a Lady by George Manville Fenn
To dally with minor ailments was as much beneath him as to temporise with modern medicine.
From The Romance of a Plain Man by Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow
Well," said Hargrave, when they entered the town again, "we must temporise with our present difficulties.
From Mabel, Vol. III (of 3) A Novel by Emma Newby
