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Pause vs Delay - What's the difference?

pause | delay | Synonyms |

As verbs the difference between pause and delay

is that pause is to interrupt an activity and wait while delay is to put off until a later time; to defer.

As nouns the difference between pause and delay

is that pause is a temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation while delay is a period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.

pause

English

Verb

(paus)
  • To interrupt an activity and wait.
  • When telling the scary story, he paused for effect.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • Tarry, pause a day or two.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • pausing while thus to herself she mused
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=15 citation , passage=She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough!
  • To hesitate; to hold back; to delay.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • Why doth the Jew pause ? Take thy forfeiture.
  • To halt the play or playback of, temporarily, so that it can be resumed from the same point.
  • to pause a song, a video, or a computer game
  • (obsolete) To consider; to reflect.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • Take time to pause .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.
  • * , chapter=23
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}
  • A short time for relaxing and doing something else.
  • Hesitation; suspense; doubt.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I stand in pause where I shall first begin.
  • In writing and printing, a mark indicating the place and nature of an arrest of voice in reading; a punctuation mark.
  • A break or paragraph in writing.
  • * (John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • He writes with warmth, which usually neglects method, and those partitions and pauses which men educated in schools observe.
  • (as direct object) take pause': hesitate; give ' pause : cause to hesitate
  • delay

    English

    (wikipedia delay)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . More at let (to hinder), late, leave.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To put off until a later time; to defer.
  • * Bible, (w) xxiv. 48
  • My lord delayeth his coming.
  • To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=Mr. Cooke had had a sloop?yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed , and which was but just delivered. […] The Maria had a cabin, which was finished in hard wood and yellow plush, and accommodations for keeping things cold.}}
  • (label) To allay; to temper.
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • The watery showers delay the raging wind.
    Usage notes
    * This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) . See
    Synonyms
    * See also * adjourn * defer * forslow * postpone * put off * put on ice * suspend

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
  • the delay before the echo of a sound
  • * Bible, Acts xxv. 17
  • Without any delay , on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat.
  • * Macaulay
  • The government ought to be settled without the delay of a day.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To dilute, temper.
  • (obsolete) To assuage, quench, allay.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.12:
  • Those dreadfull flames she also found delayd / And quenched quite like a consumed torch […].

    Anagrams

    * *