cunctation

English

WOTD – 2 February 2009

Etymology

From Latin cūnctātiō (“a delaying, tarrying”), from cūnctor (“linger, hesitate”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /kʌŋkˈteɪʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

cunctation (countable and uncountable, plural cunctations)

1. (obsolete) Delay, hesitation, procrastination.
   • 1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Folio Society, published 2007, page 428:

     The swiftest animal conjoined with a heavy body implies that common moral, festina lente; and that celerity should always be contempered with cunctation.

Synonyms

• dilation, hold-up; see also Thesaurus:delay

Derived terms

• cunctatory

Translations

delay, hesitation, procrastination

• Dutch: aarzeling (nl) f, uitstelgedrag (nl) n,
• Polish: kunktatorstwo (pl) n, zwłoka (pl) f
• Russian: промедле́ние (ru) n (promedlénije), заде́ржка (ru) f (zadéržka)
• Swedish: uppskov (sv) n