temporize
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: dentistry
medicine
sciences
Etymology: From Middle French temporiser (“to wait one's time, temporize”) + English -ize (suffix forming verbs). Temporiser is derived from Medieval Latin temporizāre, from Latin temporāre (“to delay, put off”) + -izāre (suffix forming the present active infinitive of verbs). Temporāre is derived from tempor-, the inflected stem of tempus (“age, time, period; season of the year; due, opportune, or proper time”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *temp-, *ten- (“to extend, stretch (in the sense of a stretch of time)”), or *temh₁- (“to cut (in the sense of a section of time)”)) + -āre. Compare temporalize.
Inflected forms:
form: temporizes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: temporizing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: temporized
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: temporized
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: temporize
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: temporize
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: temporized
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: temporize
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: temporizest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: temporized
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: temporizedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: temporizes
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: temporizeth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: temporized
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: temporize
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: temporized
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: temporize
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: temporized
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: temporize
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: temporizing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: temporized
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: temporise
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion in order to gain time or postpone a decision, sometimes so that a compromise can be reached or simply to make a conversation more temperate; to stall for time.
pos: verb
tags: British
English
Oxford
US
intransitive
examples: “There are more answers to that than you may think,” Chih temporized, because there were, but they could see that there was only one answer that really mattered to tigers.
gloss: To discuss, to negotiate; to reach a compromise.
pos: verb
tags: British
English
Oxford
US
broadly
intransitive
examples: The Dolphin is too wilfull oppoſite, / And will not temporize with my intreaties: / He flatly ſaies, heell not lay downe his Armes.
I ought to have temporized with this singular being, learned the motives of its interference, and availed myself of its succor, [...]
gloss: To apply a temporary piece of dental work that will later be removed.
pos: verb
tags: British
English
Oxford
US
transitive
examples: This is especially true when we're faced with temporizing a patient who will ultimately receive veneer restorations.
gloss: To comply with the occasion or time; to humour, or yield to, current circumstances or opinion; also, to trim (“fluctuate between parties, so as to appear to favour each”).
pos: verb
tags: British
English
Oxford
US
archaic
intransitive
examples: Yet ſeeking at the firſt to temporize, / She tries if that ſome ſhort impriſonment / would calme their heat; when that would not ſuffize, / Then to exile him ſhee muſt needes conſent: [...]
Happy he, in that he is freed from the tumults of the world, hee ſeekes no honours, gapes after no preferment, flatters not, envies not, temporizeth not, but liues priuately, and well contented with his eſtate, [...]
Though that her heart were fired, and swollen with anger, she temporiseth so, 'twas undiscovered: [...]
How do you expect to riſe in the Church, if you can't temporize, and give into the Opinion of your Superiors?
[William] Penn, therefore, exhorted the fellows not to rely on the goodness of their cause, but to submit, or at least to temporise.
gloss: To delay, especially until a more favourable time; to procrastinate.
pos: verb
tags: British
English
Oxford
US
intransitive
obsolete
examples: Pedro. Nay, if Cupid haue not ſpent all his quiuer in Venice, thou wilt quake for this ſhortly. / Bened[ick]. I looke for an earthquake too then. / Pedro. Well, you will temporize with the howres, [...]
The Earle of Lincolne [John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln] deceiued of his hopes of the Countries concourſe vnto him (in which caſe he would haue temporized) and ſeeing the buſineſſe paſt Retraict, reſolued to make on where the King [Henry VII of England] was, and to giue him Battaile; [...]
gloss: To take temporary measures or actions to manage a situation without providing a definitive or permanent solution.
pos: verb
tags: British
English
Oxford
US
transitive
Related words: extempore
extemporize
temporal
temporalize
Derived words: temporization
temporized
temporizer
Translations: