tardy
About 0.55 uses per million words.
Meaning
- adjective Late; overdue or delayed.
He yawned, then raised a tardy hand over his mouth.
- adjective Moving with a slow pace or motion; not swift.
- adjective Ineffectual; slow-witted, slow to act, or dull.
His tardy performance bordered on incompetence.
- adjective Unwary; unready (especially in the phrase take (someone) tardy).
- adjective Criminal; guilty.
- noun A piece of paper given to students who are late to class.
The teacher gave her a tardy because she did not come into the classroom until after the bell.
- noun An instance of a student's being marked as tardy by a teacher on the teacher's attendance sheet.
- verb To make tardy.
Similar words
belated late unpunctual overdue slow delayed retarded delay loiterer sluggish
Often followed by
in and recognition justice or arrival to progress development
Word family
tardier tardies tardiest
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