Synonyms for tarry
- verb
- adjective
Synonyms by meaning
Verb
1. Linger — to abide, stay or wait somewhere, especially if longer than planned
linger, loiter, hang around, lurk, hang about informal, lag, mess about, mill around, lounge, loaf, poke along informal, mill about, lollygag US, footle
2. Sojourn — to stay somewhere temporarily
sojourn, stop, dwell, stay over, stay back, pause, rest, lodge, stay dated, keep dated
3. Bide — to wait for; to stay or stop for; to allow to linger
remain, await, wait on, continue, endure, wait rare, bide dated, abide dated
4. Delay — to delay; to be late or tardy in beginning or doing anything
delay, procrastinate, put off, extend, forestall, dilly-dally, postpone, halt dated
Other
Adjective
Other
Definitions
- v. 1
To delay; to be late or tardy in beginning or doing anything.
- v. 2
To abide, stay or wait somewhere, especially if longer than planned.
- v. 3
To stay somewhere temporarily.
- adj. 1
Resembling tar.
Related words
- Word family
- tarriance
- Is a kind of
- procrastinate
Forms
- Past participle
- tarried
e.g. tarried → lingered, loitered, lurked, lagged…
Choose the right word
Lodge, sojourn, stay, tarry, and wait always imply a limited time; lodge, to pass the night; sojourn, to remain temporarily; live, dwell, reside, to have a permanent home.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- linger Impressions linger long after the moment.
- lurk In the depths of the human soul, dark feelings lurk.
- loiter They don't work, they just loiter in the streets.
- dwell We are the mirrors of the world in which we dwell.
By length
- 3 letters
- lag1
- 4 letters
- keep1, stop1, stay1, wait1, rest1, halt1, loaf1, lurk1, bide1
- 5 letters
- delay2, lodge1, pause1, dwell1, await2, abide2
- 6 letters
- remain2, extend2, lounge1, endure2, linger2, loiter2, pitchy, footle, resiny
- 7 letters
- sojourn2, tarrish
- 8 letters
- continue3, postpone2, resinous, lollygag
- 9 letters
- forestall2
- 13 letters
- procrastinate4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (delay2 = 2 syllables).