Dictionary

temporize en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɛmpəˌɹaɪz/ (General-American)
• /ˈtɛmpəɹaɪz/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

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.

Meanings

1. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive) 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.
   • “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. 2020, Nghi Vo, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, chapter 8
2. (British, English, Oxford, US, broadly, intransitive) To discuss, to negotiate; to reach a compromise.
   • I ought to have temporized with this singular being, learned the motives of its interference, and availed myself of its succor, [...] 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 5:
   • The Dolphin is too wilfull oppoſite, / And will not temporize with my intreaties: / He flatly ſaies, heell not lay downe his Armes. c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 19, column 2:
3. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To apply a temporary piece of dental work that will later be removed.
   • This is especially true when we're faced with temporizing a patient who will ultimately receive veneer restorations. 2005, Dental Economics, volume 95, Tulsa, Okla.: PennWell Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 66:
4. (British, English, Oxford, US, archaic, intransitive) 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”).
   • How do you expect to riſe in the Church, if you can't temporize, and give into the Opinion of your Superiors? 1751 December (indicated as 1752), Henry Fielding, “A Curious Conversation between the Doctor, the Young Clergyman, and the Young Clergyman’s Father”, in Amelia, volume III, London: […] [William Strahan] for A[ndrew] Millar […], →OCLC, book IX, page 322:
   • 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: [...] 1595, Samuel Daniel, “The Fovvrth Booke”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, stanza 102, folio [85], recto:
   • 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, [...] 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Against Pouerty and Want, with Such Other Adversity”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 3, member 3, page 268:
   • [William] Penn, therefore, exhorted the fellows not to rely on the goodness of their cause, but to submit, or at least to temporise. 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 298:
   • Though that her heart were fired, and swollen with anger, she temporiseth so, 'twas undiscovered: [...] 1627, E. F. [i.e., Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland], The History of the Life, Reign, and Death of Edward II, King of England, and Lord of Ireland: […], London: […] J. C. for Charles Harper … Samuel Crouch … and Thomas Fox …, published 1680, →OCLC, lines 301–302; republished in Randall Martin, editor, Women Writers in Renaissance England, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 2014, →ISBN, part 2 (Prose), page 176:
5. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive, obsolete) To delay, especially until a more favourable time; to procrastinate.
   • 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; [...] 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC, pages 33–34:
   • 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, [...] 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
6. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To take temporary measures or actions to manage a situation without providing a definitive or permanent solution.

Forms

Deriveds

temporization · temporizer · temporized

Relateds

temporal · extemporize · extempore · temporalize

Translations (10)

hu húzza az időt (to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion) · fr temporiser (to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion) · ar سَوَّفَ (to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion) · hu időt húz (to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion) · fi viivytellä (to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion) · bg печеля време (to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion) · fr tergiverser (to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion) · tr gecikmek (to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion) · ar مَاطَلَ (to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion) · ca temporitzar (to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion)