tardy

[ tahr-dee ]
/ ˈtɑr di /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR tardy ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, tar·di·er, tar·di·est.

late; behind time; not on time: How tardy were you today?
moving or acting slowly; slow; sluggish.
delaying through reluctance.

Origin of tardy

1475–85; earlier tardive, tardif < Old French < Vulgar Latin *tardīvus, equivalent to Latin tard(us) slow + -īvus -ive

OTHER WORDS FROM tardy

tar·di·ly, adverb tar·di·ness, noun

Words nearby tardy

tardigrade, tardive, tardive cyanosis, tardive dyskinesia, tardo, tardy, tare, tarentum, targe, target, target cell

Words related to tardiness

delay, detention, slowness

Example sentences from the Web for tardiness

  • Tardiness is reported to be much less in home credit schools.

    School Credit for Home Work |Lewis Raymond Alderman

  • Tardiness is a disappointment and an interruption; a kind of falsehood and theft of time.

    The Choctaw Freedmen |Robert Elliott Flickinger

  • Tardiness on the part of any pupil doing the work meant a loss of so many credits already accumulated.

    School Credit for Home Work |Lewis Raymond Alderman

British Dictionary definitions for tardiness

tardy
/ (ˈtɑːdɪ) /

adjective -dier or -diest

occurring later than expected tardy retribution
slow in progress, growth, etc a tardy reader

Derived forms of tardy

tardily, adverb tardiness, noun

Word Origin for tardy

C15: from Old French tardif, from Latin tardus slow