Dally — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Dally (verb) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. to engage in activity for amusement

   "he spent his college years dallying, seemingly determined to acquire as little knowledge as possible"

   similar: disport, frolic, play, recreate, rollick, skylark, sport, toy
   related: cavort, frisk, gambol, romp, dabble, trifle, amuse, divert, entertain, delight, please, fiddle (around), mess around, putter (around), bum (around), dawdle, goldbrick, hang, hang about (British), idle, loaf, lounge (around or about), relax, rest, screw around, slack (off), jest, joke, tease
   near: drudge, labor, plod, plug (away), slave, strain, strive, struggle, sweat, toil, work

2. to move or act slowly

   "don't dally on the way to the interview"

   similar: crawl, creep, dawdle, delay, diddle, dillydally, drag, lag, linger, loiter, lollygag, mope, poke, shilly-shally, tarry, drag one's feet, drop behind, fall behind, hang fire, mark time, take one's time
   related: fiddle (around), fool around, mess around, monkey (around), play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle, hang (around or out), idle, loaf, loll, lounge, amble, ease, inch, lumber, plod, saunter, shuffle, stagger, stroll, decelerate, slow (down or up), filibuster, procrastinate, stall, temporize
   opposite: barrel, bolt, career, course, dash, fly, hasten, hotfoot (it), hurry, race, rip, rocket, run, rush, scoot, scud, scurry, speed, tear, whirl, whisk, whiz, zip
   near: bowl, breeze, dart, hump, hurtle, hustle, scramble, stampede, gallop, jog, run, sprint, trot, accelerate, quicken, speed (up), catch up, fast-forward, outpace, outrun, outstrip, overtake

3. to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun

   "she spent the summer dallying with a guy renting the neighboring beach house"

   similar: coquet, flirt, frivol, mess around, toy, trifle
   related: vamp, court, mash, woo, josh, kid, put on, razz, rib, tease, fool, lead on, string along, manipulate, play (with)

4. to spend time doing nothing

   "I kept dallying at my desk until I couldn't put off doing my work any longer"

   similar: bum, chill, dawdle, dillydally, drone, footle, goof (off), hack (around), hang (around or out), hang about (British), idle, kick around, kick back, laze, lazy, loaf, loll, lounge, veg out, kill time, twiddle one's thumbs
   related: fiddle (around), fool, mess, monkey, muck, piddle, play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle, doze, estivate, hibernate, lag, linger, loiter, poke, relax, rest, tarry, amble, mosey, saunter, stroll, swan, furlough, goldbrick, malinger, truant
   near: drudge, grind, grub, hump, hustle, labor, moil, peg, plod, plow, plug, slave, sweat, toil, travail, work, apply, buckle (down), exert, put out