different between difficulty vs delay

English

Etymology

From Middle English difficultee, from Old French difficulté, from Latin difficultas, from difficul, older form of difficilis (“hard to do, difficult”), from dis- + facilis (“easy”); see difficile and difficult. Equivalent to dis- +? facile +? -ty. Also analysable as difficult +? -y, though the adjective is historically a backformation from the noun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?f?k?lti/

Noun

difficulty (countable and uncountable, plural difficulties)

1. The state of being difficult, or hard to do.
2. An obstacle that hinders achievement of a goal.
3. (sometimes in the plural) Physical danger from the environment, especially with risk of drowning
   • 2012 August 2, "Children rescued after getting into difficulties in Donegal" BBC Online
   • 2016 March 30, Alan Thompson, "Diver taken to hospital after getting into difficulties at Stoney Cove diving centre" Leicester Mercury
   • 2016 February 24, Catherine Shanahan, "Boy, 13, drowns after getting into difficulty in river" Irish Examiner

     The three teenagers, a girl and two boys, were playing by the river when it is believed they got into difficulty.

   • 2016 March 14, "Kayaker rescued after getting into difficulty" Bournemouth Echo

     Members of the public had called 999 as they were concerned the kayaker was in difficulty around the headland race due to very strong spring tides and choppy seas with the kayaker making no headway.

   • 2016 March 19, Neil Shaw "Teens rescued from Dartmoor after getting into difficulty" Plymouth Herald

     A group of young people had to be rescued from Dartmoor on Friday night after getting into difficulty during a Duke of Edinburgh exercise. […] A 16-year-old girl required medical attention and a medic was winched down to the site by helicopter.

4. An objection.
5. That which cannot be easily understood or believed.
6. An awkward situation or quarrel.

Derived terms

• difficulty level
• with difficulty

Related terms

• difficile
• difficult

Translations

Further reading

• difficulty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• difficulty in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish *latjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic *latjan? (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European *le(y)d- (“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish *laibijan ("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic *laibijan? (“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to remain, continue”)). Akin to Old English latian (“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu (“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English l?fan (“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??le?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??le?/, /d?-/
• Rhymes: -e?
• Hyphenation: de?lay

Noun

delay (countable and uncountable, plural delays)

1. A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity.
2. (music) An audio effects unit that introduces a controlled delay.
3. (programming, Clojure) Synonym of promise (“object representing delayed result”)

Synonyms

• (period of time): cunctation, hold-up; see also Thesaurus:delay

Descendants

• ? Portuguese: delay

Translations

Verb

delay (third-person singular simple present delays, present participle delaying, simple past and past participle delayed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To put off until a later time; to defer.

   • My lord delayeth his coming.

2. To retard; to stop, detain, or hinder, for a time.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To allay; to temper.
   • a. 1547, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, The faithful Lover declareth his Pains and his uncertain Joys, and with only Hope recomforteth somewhat his woful Heart

     The watery showers delay the raging wind.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• (put off until a later time): adjourn, defer, forslow, penelopize, postpone, put off, put on ice, suspend; See also Thesaurus:procrastinate
• (retard): forslow, get in the way, hold up, impede; See also Thesaurus:hinder
• (allay): calm, moderate, quell; See also Thesaurus:pacify

Derived terms

• justice delayed is justice denied

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English delaien, from Old French delaiier, a variant of delaissier.

Verb

delay (third-person singular simple present delays, present participle delaying, simple past and past participle delayed)

1. (obsolete) To dilute, temper.
2. (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 […].

Further reading

• delay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• delay in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Adley, Daley, Leday, dealy, ladye, layed, leady

Maranao

Noun

delay

1. Job's tears

References

• A Maranao Dictionary, by Howard P. McKaughan and Batua A. Macaraya

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English delay.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /de.?lej/

Noun

delay m (plural delays)

1. (posh, except in technical contexts) delay (period of time before an event being initiated and actually occurring)

   Synonym: atraso

2. (audio engineering) delay (effect that produces echo-like repetitions in sound)
3. (audio engineering) delay (unit that produces a delay effect)