Procrastinate

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /prəʊˈkræstɪneɪt/
• US enPR: prō-krăs'tÉ™-nāt', IPA: /proʊˈkræstÉ™neɪt/, /prəˈkræstÉ™neɪt/

Origin

From Latin prōcrastinātum, past participle of prōcrastinō ("defer, put off till tomorrow"), from prō ("in favor of") + crāstinus ("of or belonging to tomorrow"), from crās ("tomorrow")

Full definition of procrastinate

Verb

1. (intransitive) To put off; to delay taking action; to wait until later.He procrastinated until the last minute and had to stay up all night to finish.
2. (transitive) To put off; to delay (something).
• 1816, John Pickering, A vocabulary; or, Collection of words and phrases, Hence It became manifest to the publishers of Webster, that some device must be resorted to, to induce apathy in the publick mind, and thereby procrastinate the inevitable crisis which they foresaw was approaching, the expulsion of his elementary works from our primary schools.

Derived terms

• procrastination
• procrastinator