tardy means late; overdue or delayed. Lexicurio rates it Distinctive — a strength score of 67 out of 100.
tardy is pronounced /ˈtɑːdi/.
Etymology
From an earlier tardive, from French tardif, from Late Latin tardīvus, from Latin tardus (“slow”, “sluggish”), of obscure origin.
adj
- Late; overdue or delayed.“He yawned, then raised a tardy hand over his mouth.”
- Moving with a slow pace or motion; not swift.“[…] fashions in proud Italy, / Whose manners still our tardy apish nation / Limps after in base imitation.”
- Ineffectual; slow-witted, slow to act, or dull.“His tardy performance bordered on incompetence.”
- Unwary; unready (especially in the phrase take (someone) tardy).“Be not ta’en tardy by unwise delay.”
- Criminal; guilty.“And the Franks served the Men much the same ſauce when they found them tardy, and made them run their Heats through the Streets”
noun
- A piece of paper given to students who are late to class.“The teacher gave her a tardy because she did not come into the classroom until after the bell.”
- An instance of a student's being marked as tardy by a teacher on the teacher's attendance sheet.
verb
- To make tardy.“the good mind of Camillo tardied
My swift command”
- To dawdle.“Sitting there on the rock behind the school, I heard nothing but the occasional raised voice of some youngster tardying on his way home, and the joints in the schoolhouse squeaking from the frost.”