Verb.
Pronunciation and accent: tɛmpəraɪz.
Third-person singular simple present: she/he temporizes.
Preterite tense, preterite
participle: temporized.
Present participle: temporizing.
Etymology: from French temporiser (= to
be dilatory to do something with the hope either that it shall be better done
in other time, or shall be no done at all), from Latin tempus (= time).
It is dated from
the beginning of 1500.
Intransitively: 1.
Obsolete: to be dilatory to do something, with the hope either
that it shall be better done in other time, or shall be not done at all; to
delay.
Antonyms: to hasten,
hurry, accelerate, speed.
I
dare say you have often observed this disposition to temporize, or to procrastinate, in
people who are labouring under any very poignant sorrow.
Edgar Poe
There
was something in Alderling's tone and manner that made me, instead of answering
directly that I did not [think that it happened], temporize and ask, "Why?"
William Howells… Questionable Shapes
[He]
in humble phrase begged a copy, and required from me "Ijazah" or permission
to act as master. The former request was granted without hesitation, about the
latter I preferred to temporize…
Richard Burton… First footsteps in East Africa
If
any one were to ask me which was the most beautiful church in Rome I should temporize, and perhaps I should end by
saying that there was none.
William Howells… Roman H…
The
king, snatching up half a sheet of paper, wrote down in few words the
conditions on which he was willing to make peace. The whole was contained in about
ten lines. He sent this off to Vienna by a courier, demanding a definitive
answer within twelve days. The
Austrian ministers were absolutely out of breath at the idea; they wished to temporize, to delay. But Maria Theresa,
with the promptitude of her character, decided at once; she accepted the terms.
Anna Jameson… Female Sovereigns 1832
2. (Of
someone) a. To adapt to a situation or an occasion. b. Hence: To
adapt to a situation or an occasion, by conceding or parleying; to comply with
a person’s wish, request, condition, only to humor him temporarily.
Translation: temporeggiare, in Italian; temporizer, in French; contemporizar, in Spanish.
[…]
their deliberations are never in concert […]; one vanquishes, and the other
submits; neither party temporizes, and commonly each is unhappy.
Frances Burney… Cecilia 1782
Their
policy was now to temporize –to gain time- to work upon the fears of the Court
and on its gratitude.
The London quarterly review, 107-110
This
seems to be the reason why he showed such a disposition to retreat, and not
always with a scholar’s honour, whenever he was severely pressed by a learned
adversary whose strength ke knew: he temporized –he explained – he conceded –
he retreated from the lists.
The Gentleman’s magazine, v. 167 1839
The
alternative was a matter of necessity as well as prudence, and he choose it:
unable to resist effectively, he resolved to temporize.
James Wills… Lives of… Irishmen 1839
Hamilton,
obeying the spirit at least, if not the letter, of the king’s instructions to temporise and delude, promised them
that he would call both a general assembly and a parliament for the redress of
all grievances.
George Craik… A pictorial history of England 1856
If I
mistake not, it will shortly behoove this country to temporize, to make certain concessions.
Whether those concessions extend so far as to cede these three States back to
Mexico, I cannot hazard a prediction.
B. M Bower… Starr, of the Desert
-) With the
preposition with + a
noun of the person whose wish, request, or condition is complied with, or of
the person with whom the temporizer is parleying:
An
artful […] despot would have temporized with the deputies, and yielded for
the time, with the purpose of afterwards recovering, at a fitting period,
whatever point he might at present be obliged to cede.
Walter Scott… Prose Works 1827
He
now affected to offer pardon to the leaders of the insurrection, temporized with the confederates, and,
breaking up his camp, returned by forced marches to the capital.
Thomas Roscoe… The tourist in France 1834
De Lacy
led his troops into Ulster, and coming to an engagement with De Courcy, was
obliged to retreat with loss. But he, soon becoming conscious of the
impossibility of resisiting the power of the English troops, which he knew must
gradually collect into a force beyond the utmost of his means, resolved to temporized with his enemies.
James Wills… Lives of… Irishmen 1839
Wilkin
found means to strengthen the defences and revictual the garrison which was summoned
to surrender: the wily Fleming temporized with the messenger and became
suspected of treason.
Reuben Percy – J. Timbs… The mirror of literature 1825
-) With the
preposition between, to denote the
opposite parties involved:
They
temporized
between the opposing parties, delaying
as much as possible the absolute decision of the matter.
The North American review, v. 60
[Maxwell]
had, from first to last, in the course of the negotiations for peace and marriage,
temporized between the rights and liberties of Scotland the tyrannical pretensions of
England.
James Taylor… The pictorial history of Scotland
Words
derived from TEMPORIZE: temporizer,
temporization, temporizing, temporizingly.
English words derived from, or compounded with one of
the radicals of tempus: contemporaneous,
contemporaneity, contemporaneously, contemporaneous, contemporarily,
contemporariness, contemporary, contemporize, contretemps, detemporize,
detemporalize, extempore, extemporal, extemporaneous, extemporaneously,
extemporaneousness, extemporary, extemporarily, extemporariness, extempore, extemporization,
extemporize, extemporized, extemporizer, extemporizing, printanier, temper
(noun, verb), temperable, temperability, temperament (noun, verb),
temperamented, temperamenting, temperamental, temperamentalist,
temperamentally, temperance, temperate, temperately, temperateness,
temperative, temperature, tempered, temperer, tempering, temperish, temperless,
tempest (noun, verb), tempested, tempesting, tempestive, tempestively,
tempestuous, tempestuously, tempestousness, temporal, tempo, temporality,
temporalize, temporally, temporalness, temporaneous, temporaneously, temporaneousness,
temporarily, temporariness, temporary, tense, tensed, tenseless, tenselessness,
attemper, distemper, tamper, attemperament, attemperate, attemperating,
attemperation, attemperator, attempered, distemper (noun, verb), distempering,
distempered, distemperedly, distemperedness, distemperer, tamper, tampered,
tampering, tamperer, tampering, tamperproof, untemporary, untempestuous,
untempested, untemper, untempered, untempering, intemporal, intemporally,
intempestive, intempestively, intemperateness, intemperately, intemperate,
intemperance, intemperament, temple (maybe).
