To dillydally means to waste time by being slow, indecisive, or distracted when you should be getting something done. If you dillydally on your way to school, you might stop to watch a squirrel, tie your shoe three times, and examine every interesting rock, arriving late even though you had plenty of time. If you dillydally while getting ready for bed, you might reorganize your bookshelf, start drawing, and suddenly discover it's an hour past bedtime.

The word has a playful, bouncing sound that matches what it describes: dilly-dally, back and forth, getting nowhere. Parents often tell kids to stop dillydallying when it's time to leave the house. A coach might tell the team not to dillydally between drills.

Dillydallying is different from taking a break or thinking carefully. When you dillydally, you're not making a thoughtful choice to rest or consider your options. You're just letting time slip away through distraction or indecision. If you have fifteen minutes before dinner and spend it productively reading, that's not dillydallying. But if those same fifteen minutes vanish while you wander around doing nothing in particular, you've definitely been dillydallying.