What does procrastinating mean?
Procrastinating means delaying or postponing an action, especially something important that one is expected to do. The word commonly describes putting off a task, decision, or conversation until a later time, often because the task feels unpleasant, difficult, or uncertain. It can be used to criticize someone else's delay, as in 'He is procrastinating about the application,' or to describe a person's own behavior, as in 'I have been procrastinating on the essay.' The term often carries a note of self-awareness and mild disapproval, but it is not necessarily hostile. Its ultimate source is Latin: the word comes from a verb meaning to postpone until the following day. Procrastinating is useful when describing not merely lateness, but a repeated or avoidable postponement of action. It is the present participle of procrastinate, with the related noun procrastination.
verbTo delay doing something that should be done, especially by putting it off until a later time. It can also mean to postpone an action or decision.
- To delay or postpone doing something that one ought to do.
- To defer an action, decision, or piece of work to a later time.
"She kept procrastinating on writing the report, so the deadline passed without it."
"He was accused of procrastinating instead of confronting the problem."
"Rather than procrastinating, she set a short deadline and began the work."
Procrastination is older than the modern word suggests: its Latin roots literally refer to putting things off until tomorrow.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does procrastinating come from?
The word belongs to the Latin verb procrastinare, meaning 'to postpone until the following day.' It was formed with pro-, meaning 'forward,' and crastinus, meaning 'of or relating to tomorrow.' English borrowed the word in the 16th century, initially in the sense of postponing an action to a later day, and the modern sense of delaying something one ought to do developed from that earlier meaning.
Related word forms
How procrastinating is actually used
Often used in a mildly critical or self-reproachful way. It is commonly used as a present participle, as in 'I am procrastinating,' and is generally formal or neutral in register.