time lag
noun
variants
or less commonly time-lag
plural time lags also time-lags
: an interval of time between two related phenomena or events
… there is a time lag between the companies' statements and the data captured in the department's jobs report.—
Sarah Chaney Cambon
Sarah Chaney CambonGiven the usual time lags in book publishing and the rush of recent discoveries, the book is extraordinarily up to date …—James Cornell
James CornellThere is frequently a time-lag between word and thing. Thus atomic bomb was coined by H. G. Wells in 1914, though the first explosion took place at Alamogordo, New Mexico, in 1945.—Geoffrey Hughes
Geoffrey HughesExamples of time lag in a Sentence
There's a time lag between when you see a stop sign and when your foot steps on the brake.
Recent Examples on the Web
Since there was no time lag, the researchers argued that so fast a response had to be because the interior was liquid.
—New Atlas, 18 Dec. 2025
The time lag makes troubleshooting very slow and forces engineers to rely on autonomous systems and redundant hardware.
—George Petras, USA Today, 25 Nov. 2025
Somewhere between all these time lags and misconceptions, our attitude to and relationship with the United States has changed.
—Jessica Traynor, The Dial, 11 Nov. 2025
In my film, this cultural time lag is illustrated through the phenomenon of stage diving — when a performer jumps into the crowd to be carried by the audience.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 8 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for time lag
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New Atlas, 18 Dec. 2025
The time lag makes troubleshooting very slow and forces engineers to rely on autonomous systems and redundant hardware.
—George Petras, USA Today, 25 Nov. 2025
Somewhere between all these time lags and misconceptions, our attitude to and relationship with the United States has changed.
—Jessica Traynor, The Dial, 11 Nov. 2025
In my film, this cultural time lag is illustrated through the phenomenon of stage diving — when a performer jumps into the crowd to be carried by the audience.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 8 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for time lag
Cite this Entry
“Time lag.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/time%20lag. Accessed 2 Jan. 2026.
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