Meanings
verbprocrastinate (third-person singular simple present procrastinates, present participle procrastinating, simple past and past participle procrastinated)
present singular third person procrastinates · participle present procrastinating · participle past procrastinated · past procrastinated
- transitiveTo put off; to delay (something).
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.
1816, John Pickering, A vocabulary; or, Collection of words and phrases, page 4
Synonyms & antonyms
Broader
verbpostpone doing what one should be doing
Broader
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinprōcrastinātus
- Englishprocrastinate
First attested in 1548; from Latin prōcrastinātus, perfect passive participle of prōcrastinō (“defer, put off till tomorrow”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from prō- (“in favor of”) + crāstinus (“of or belonging to tomorrow”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), from crās (“tomorrow”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سَوَّفَ
- سَوَّفَ (sawwafa)put off; to delay taking action
Bulgarian бавя се, мая се
- бавя се (bavja se)put off; to delay taking action
- мая се (maja se)put off; to delay taking action
- отлагам (otlagam)put off; delay something
Catalan procrastinar, procrastinar
- procrastinarput off; to delay taking action
- procrastinarput off; delay something
Chinese Mandarin 耽擱 /耽搁, 拖延
- 耽擱 /耽搁 (dāngē)put off; to delay taking action
- 拖延 (tuōyán)put off; to delay taking action
- 耽擱 /耽搁 (dāngē)put off; delay something
- 拖延 (tuōyán)put off; delay something
Czech odkládat
- odkládatput off; to delay taking action
Danish udsætte, udskyde
- udsætteput off; delay something
- udskydeput off; delay something
- forhaleput off; delay something
- forsinkeput off; delay something
Dutch uitstellen, voor zich uitschuiven
- uitstellenput off; to delay taking action
- voor zich uitschuivenput off; to delay taking action
- soggenput off; to delay taking action
- uitstellenput off; delay something
- soggenput off; delay something
Finnish vitkutella, viivytellä
- vitkutellaput off; to delay taking action
- viivytelläput off; to delay taking action
- vitkastellaput off; to delay taking action
- jahkaillaput off; to delay taking action
- aikaillaput off; to delay taking action
- kuhnaillaput off; to delay taking action
- lykätäput off; delay something
- viivyttääput off; delay something
- viivästääput off; delay something
- viivästyttääput off; delay something
- myöhäistääput off; delay something
- myöhästyttääput off; delay something
French procrastiner
- procrastinerput off; to delay taking action
German aufschieben, verzögern
- aufschiebenput off; to delay taking action
- verzögernput off; to delay taking action
- vertagenput off; to delay taking action
- prokrastinierenput off; to delay taking action
- verschleppenput off; delay something
- prokrastinierenput off; delay something
Greek χρονοτριβώ, καθυστερώ
- χρονοτριβώ (chronotrivó)put off; to delay taking action
- καθυστερώ (kathysteró)put off; to delay taking action
- καθυστερώ (kathysteró)put off; delay something
- αναβάλλω (anavállo)put off; delay something
Hungarian késlekedik, húzza az időt
- késlekedikput off; to delay taking action
- húzza az időtput off; to delay taking action
- halogatput off; delay something
- elodázput off; delay something
- húz-halasztput off; delay something
- elhúzput off; delay something
Indonesian menunda, berlengah-lengah
- menundaput off; to delay taking action
- berlengah-lengahput off; to delay taking action
- menangguh-nangguhkanput off; to delay taking action
- menundaput off; delay something
- berlengah-lengahput off; delay something
- menangguh-nangguhkanput off; delay something
Italian procrastinare, ritardare
- procrastinareput off; to delay taking action
- ritardareput off; delay something
- posticipareput off; delay something
- differireput off; delay something
- rimandareput off; delay something
- dilazionareput off; delay something
- temporeggiareput off; delay something
Japanese 先延ばしにする
- 先延ばしにするput off; to delay taking action
Korean 미루다
- 미루다 (miruda)put off; to delay taking action
Latin procrastino
- procrastinoput off; to delay taking action
Malay melambat-lambatkan, melewat-lewatkan
- melambat-lambatkanput off; to delay taking action
- melewat-lewatkanput off; to delay taking action
- menangguh-nangguhkanput off; to delay taking action
- bertangguh-tangguhput off; to delay taking action
- menunda-nundaput off; to delay taking action
- menangguhkanput off; delay something
- memperlambatput off; delay something
Māori tonanawe, whakatonanawe
- tonanaweput off; to delay taking action
- whakatonanaweput off; delay something
- whakaroaroaput off; delay something
Norwegian somle, utsette
- somleput off; to delay taking action
- utsetteput off; delay something
Polish odwlekać
- odwlekaćput off; to delay taking action
Portuguese procrastinar, procrastinar
- procrastinarput off; to delay taking action
- procrastinarput off; delay something
Romanian amâna, tărăgăna
- amânaput off; to delay taking action
- tărăgănaput off; to delay taking action
- procrastinaput off; to delay taking action
Russian ме́длить, тяну́ть
- ме́длить (médlitʹ)put off; to delay taking action
- тяну́ть (tjanútʹ)put off; to delay taking action
- откла́дывать (otkládyvatʹ)put off; to delay taking action
- откла́дывать (otkládyvatʹ)put off; delay something
Spanish hacer desidia, procrastinar
- hacer desidiaput off; to delay taking action
- procrastinarput off; to delay taking action
- hacer desidiaput off; delay something
- procrastinarput off; delay something
- dejar para despuésput off; delay something
Swedish prokrastinera, förhala
- prokrastineraput off; to delay taking action
- förhalaput off; to delay taking action
- skjuta uppput off; delay something
- förhalaput off; delay something
Thai ผัดวันประกันพรุ่ง, ผัด
- ผัดวันประกันพรุ่ง (pàt-wan-bprà-gan-prûng)put off; to delay taking action
- ผัด (pàt)put off; to delay taking action
- ผัดผ่อน (pàt-pɔ̀n)put off; to delay taking action
Turkish gecikme, geciktirmek
- gecikmeput off; to delay taking action
- geciktirmekput off; delay something
Yiddish אָפּלייגן
- אָפּלייגן (opleygn)put off; to delay taking action
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
procrastinate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/procrastinate
MLA
“procrastinate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/procrastinate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “procrastinate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/procrastinate.
Source: procrastinate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.