temporize

Meaning

1. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive) To deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion in order to gain time or postpone a decision, sometimes so that a compromise can be reached or simply to make a conversation more temperate; to stall for time.
2. (British, English, Oxford, US, broadly, intransitive) To discuss, to negotiate; to reach a compromise.
3. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To apply a temporary piece of dental work that will later be removed.
4. (British, English, Oxford, US, archaic, intransitive) To comply with the occasion or time; to humour, or yield to, current circumstances or opinion; also, to trim (“fluctuate between parties, so as to appear to favour each”).
5. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive, obsolete) To delay, especially until a more favourable time; to procrastinate.
6. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To take temporary measures or actions to manage a situation without providing a definitive or permanent solution.

Synonyms

temporise

delay

procrastinate

linger

compromise

dally

dawdle

defer

dilly-dally

hedge

hesitate

lag

paraphrase

procrastination

smooth over

stall

tarry

try to gain time

adjourn

use dilatory tactics

adjournment

beat

buy time

Translations

temporiser

ماطل

in Ordnung bringen

reparieren

Zeit herausschinden

αναβάλλω

καιροσκοπώ

χρονοτριβώ

temporeggiare

tergiversare

traccheggiare

contemporizar

ganhar tempo

temporizar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈtɛmpəɹaɪz/

Etymology

From Middle French temporiser (“to wait one's time, temporize”) + English -ize (suffix forming verbs). Temporiser is derived from Medieval Latin temporizāre, from Latin temporāre (“to delay, put off”) + -izāre (suffix forming the present active infinitive of verbs). Temporāre is derived from tempor-, the inflected stem of tempus (“age, time, period; season of the year; due, opportune, or proper time”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *temp-, *ten- (“to extend, stretch (in the sense of a stretch of time)”), or *temh₁- (“to cut (in the sense of a section of time)”)) + -āre. Compare temporalize.