verb · transitive · rare

temporize

temp·or·ize

temporize · temporizes · temporized · temporizing

To deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion in order to gain time or…To deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion in order to gain time or postpone a decision, sometimes so that a compromise can be reached or simply to make a conversation more temperate; to stall for time.

UK/ˈtɛmpəɹaɪz/US/ˈtɛmpəˌɹaɪz/

Meaning

6 senses

(British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive)To deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion in order to gain time or postpone a decision, sometimes so that a compromise can be reached or simply to make a conversation more temperate; to stall for time.
draw out a discussion or process in order to gain time
(British, English, Oxford, US, broadly, intransitive)To discuss, to negotiate; to reach a compromise.
(British, English, Oxford, US, transitive)To apply a temporary piece of dental work that will later be removed.
(British, English, Oxford, US, transitive)To take temporary measures or actions to manage a situation without providing a definitive or permanent solution.
(British, English, Oxford, US, archaic, intransitive)To comply with the occasion or time; to humour, or yield to, current circumstances or opinion; also, to trim (“fluctuate between parties, so as to appear to favour each”).
(British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive, obsolete)To delay, especially until a more favourable time; to procrastinate.

Translations

2 languages

Origin

From Middle French temporiser (“to wait one's time, temporize”) + English -ize (suffix for

From Middle French temporiser (“to wait one's time, temporize”) + English -ize (suffix forming verbs). Temporiser is derived from Medieval Latin temporizāre, from Latin temporāre (“to delay, put off”) + -izāre (suffix forming the present active infinitive of verbs). Temporāre is derived from tempor-, the inflected stem of tempus (“age, time, period; season of the year; due, opportune, or proper time”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *temp-, *ten- (“to extend, stretch (in the sense of a stretch of time)”), or *temh₁- (“to cut (in the sense of a section of time)”)) + -āre. Compare temporalize.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source