noun / verb · neutral
delay
/dɪˈleɪ/de·LAY
Band 4-5speakingtask1task2
A period of time by which something is late (noun); to make something happen later than planned (verb).
Examples
“The flight was delayed by two hours.”
“Roadworks caused long delays on the motorway.”
“Bad weather can delay public transport services.”
Band 8 sentence
“Frequent delays to public transport undermine commuters' trust and push people towards private car use.”
Collocations
- flight delay
- suffer a delay
Word family
delay noun / verbdelayed adjective
Common mistakes
My flight was delay.→My flight was delayed.
There is a long delay because of traffic jam.→There is a long delay because of a traffic jam.
Say it for a higher band
5late→6postpone→7+delay
Synonyms
postpone
Easily confused
postpone
“They decided to postpone the meeting until next week.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Transport & Traffic
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