temporize
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to be indecisive or evasive to gain time or delay acting.
- Synonyms:
- equivocate, stall, hedge
-
to comply with the time or occasion; yield temporarily or ostensibly to prevailing opinion or circumstances.
-
to treat or parley so as to gain time (usually followed bywith ).
-
to come to terms (usually followed bywith ).
-
to effect a compromise (usually followed bybetween ).
verb
-
to delay, act evasively, or protract a discussion, negotiation, etc, esp in order to gain time or effect a compromise
-
to adapt oneself to the circumstances or occasion, as by temporary or apparent agreement
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of temporize
First recorded in 1570–80; from Middle French temporiser “to wait one's time,” from Medieval Latin temporizāre “to put off the time, hang back, delay,” equivalent to Latin tempor- (stem of tempus ) “time” + Late Latin -izāre -ize
Explanation
The verb temporize describes stalling in order to gain time in the hopes of avoiding or preventing something. Your class might temporize so your teacher won't have time to give the pop quiz you all think she's going to give. Accent the first syllable of temporize: "TEM-puh-rise." Tempor- means "time," which you probably recognize from other time-related words such as temporary, temporal, and contemporary. Temporize comes from the Middle French word temporiser, meaning "to pass one's time, wait one's time."
Vocabulary lists containing temporize
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
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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.
Temporize was all he could think of; temporize till he could hit on some expedient for ridding the position of this awkward element which threatened to spoil it.
From A Poached Peerage by Magnay, William
Temporize; say that you desire some time to think about the matter.
From The Goose Girl by MacGrath, Harold
"Authorize, disauthorise, and unauthorized; Temporize, contemporise, and extemporize."
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold
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.
