tardy
/ˈtɑːdi
/adjective (tardier, tardiest)
1Delaying or delayed beyond the right or expected time; late: please forgive this tardy reply...
- Thanks for the email and sorry about tardy reply, just out of five weeks in Afghanistan where I'd no access to this email address.
- On one trip in Africa, a tardy photographer was left behind and had to catch us up in the next country.
- But he was very tardy and unorganized, throwing off my schedule considerably…
1.1Slow in action or response; sluggish: this makes the car feel tardy in quick manoeuvres...
- As the scale of carnage became clear and the government response was seen as tardy, TV news anchors and reporters dropped reserve in favour of stinging comments from the heart.
- I now view the American military with awe and admiration: it is as difficult to provoke the United States as it is to survive its eventual and tardy response.
- It has been a long time coming and since AMD began its head-to-head battle with Intel's Athlon processor two years ago, this response is very tardy.
Derivatives
tardily
/ adverb ...- And bringing them to account, however tardily, is a way of measuring how different America and the South are now.
- True, many of these fund managers are reacting tardily to an October rally they did not believe in and to a November bull continuation they do not trust.
- In this instance, Australia, albeit tardily, was prepared to risk the ire of terrorists to do the right thing.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from French tardif, -ive, from Latin tardus 'slow'.