tardy

1 of 2

adjective

tar·​dy ˈtär-dē 

tardier; tardiest

1

: moving slowly : sluggish

the tardy pace at which she was obliged to walk

—Charles Dickens

2

: delayed beyond the expected or proper time : late

a tardy arrival

tardy

2 of 2

noun

plural tardies

: an instance of being tardy (as to a class)

Synonyms

Adjective

• crawling
• creeping
• dallying
• dawdling
• dilatory
• dillydallying
• dragging
• laggard
• lagging
• languid
• leisurely
• poking
• poky
• pokey
• slow
• sluggish
• snail-paced
• snaillike
• unhurried

Examples of tardy in a Sentence

Adjective

She was tardy to work.

They were tardy in filing the application.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

In his first public comments since Monday night’s team meeting, in which guard Tyrese Maxey spoke to Embiid about being tardy to team functions, and Tuesday’s reports of that meeting. —Tony Jones, The Athletic, 21 Nov. 2024

The newlywed woman sought advice on Reddit after her wedding day turned into a fiasco thanks to a few tardy family members. —Brittany Kasko, Fox News, 30 Aug. 2024

My filter was deliberately designed to avoid the likes of UPS to try and identify cases that are likely to be truly tardy in taking write-downs. —Shivaram Rajgopal, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024

Now, even that default 10 year lookback is absent from the aforementioned composite edition, as well as the also tardy prior composite edition covering 2017-19. —Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., Forbes, 22 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

alteration of earlier tardif, from Anglo-French, from Vulgar Latin *tardivus, from Latin tardus

First Known Use

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1960, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

tardy

adjective

tar·​dy

ˈtärd-ē

tardier; tardiest

1

: moving slowly : sluggish

2

: not on time : late

tardily

ˈtärd-ə-lē

adverb

tardiness

ˈtärd-ē-nəs

noun