Delay example sentences
Related (13): postpone, defer, procrastinate, stall, wait, pause, suspend, lag, setback, slowdown, hurry, expedite, accelerate
"Delay" Example Sentences
Common Phrases
- without delay
- delay tactics
- cause a delay
- delay of game
- time delay
- delay in
- delay payment
- delay gratification
- suffer a delay
- experience delay
- avoid delay
Examples by Level
A1
- The bus had a delay and came late.
- Don't delay — eat your dinner now.
A2
- There was a delay at the airport because of bad weather.
- He didn't want to delay telling her the news, so he called her right away.
B1
- Every delay in the project costs money, so we're trying to stay on schedule.
- She kept making excuses to delay the difficult conversation, but eventually we had to talk.
B2
- The delay between stimulus and response is where all our freedom actually lives.
- He'd spent years trying to delay the inevitable, but it caught up with him anyway.
C1
- What we perceive as delay is often just the gap between intention and execution — the space where real choice happens.
- The bureaucratic delay wasn't accidental; it was designed to exhaust people into giving up.
C2
- There's a particular cruelty in delay when you're already suffering — each hour stretches into something unbearable.
- She understood that to delay was not to avoid, merely to postpone the reckoning, and that knowledge made every day feel borrowed.
Examples by Scenario
🏠 Everyday Life
- The bus had a delay and I was late picking up my kid from school.
- I kept trying to delay going to the dentist, but the pain finally forced me to call.
💼 Workplace
- The delay in getting approval from management is holding up the whole team.
- She didn't delay — she just walked into his office and told him she was leaving.
📊 Business
- Any delay in shipment costs us customers, so we're investing in faster logistics.
- The delay in the contract signing is costing both companies money every day.
🛒 Buying / Shopping
- I kept trying to delay buying a new phone, but mine finally died completely.
- There's a delay on that item — it won't ship for another two weeks.
✈️ Travel
- The flight delay meant we missed our connection and spent the night in the airport.
- We didn't delay leaving early because we knew traffic would be bad.
📚 Education
- The delay in getting test scores back frustrated students who needed them for college.
- Don't delay starting your essay — you'll regret it the night before it's due.
❤️ Relationships
- We didn't delay breaking up even though it was painful — staying would've been worse.
- He kept trying to delay the conversation about moving in together, and that told me everything I needed to know.
📰 News / Politics
- The delay in releasing the report raised questions about what they were hiding.
- Officials tried to delay the announcement, but the story leaked anyway.
💻 Technology
- The delay in loading the page made the whole experience feel broken.
- Network delay during the video call made it impossible to have a real conversation.
📝 Formal Writing
- The delay in treatment significantly impacted patient outcomes across all demographic groups.
- Regulatory delay in approving the medication has extended the timeline by eighteen months.