How to Use dally in a Sentence

dally

verb
  • The two of us dallied over our coffee that morning.
  • There’s still plenty of time, but try not to dally too much.
    — Shari Rudavsky, Indianapolis Star, 26 Oct. 2017
  • There’s still plenty of time, but try not to dally too much.
    — Shari Rudavsky, USA TODAY, 26 Oct. 2017
  • The other, dallying behind the main group, has had a less productive evening.
    — Rory Smith, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2018
  • And then there’s her day job, as a receptionist at her art-school alma mater, to pay her landlord, who dallies on fixing the heater.
    — Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 22 June 2023
  • After dallying in fresh water for more than two weeks, the whales made a final dash for the ocean Tuesday, moving through San Pablo Bay at a brisk 5 miles per hour.
    — Sacbee, sacbee.com, 11 May 2017
  • Books are meant to be long, dallying detours into other worlds.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2019
  • With the ball loose in midfield, Southampton’s Flynn Downes dallied on the halfway line, stuck in two minds over whether to push to win possession or retreat into his own half.
    — Elias Burke, The Athletic, 23 Dec. 2024
  • Enough dilly dallying, when are the Broncos going to put in Drew Lock as their starting quarterback?
    — Ryan O’Halloran, The Denver Post, 26 Nov. 2019
  • The deadline for submitting ideas for the next set has also been extended until Sept. 1, so don’t dilly-dally with yours.
    — Adam Lashinsky, Fortune, 10 Apr. 2020
  • Redford dilly-dallied with jobs in Milwaukee and improving his land and planting subsistence crops, but his aim was to plant more and more wheat, which could be a money crop.
    — Fred Keller, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 25 Aug. 2017
  • The versatile treat not only dallies with various fillings, flavors, and glazes, but it can be found in different forms, shapes, and textures, too.
    — Annika Hom, BostonGlobe.com, 21 June 2019
  • Harry Kane scored the crucial goal five minutes from the end after Jack Grealish was caught dallying on the ball, and the Villa captain was punished by the clinical striker.
    — SI.com, 10 Aug. 2019
  • Another factor in the release undating was Bad Bunny’s touring schedule, which had firmed up while the movie was dallying.
    — Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 June 2023
  • New resident Adrienne is a former movie actress who has no problem dallying with the romantic feelings both men have for her.
    — Elizabeth Marie Himchak, Pomerado News, 28 Mar. 2018
  • Clement Lenglet struck back almost immediately for Sevilla, but with the hosts pushing for an equaliser, Tello pounced on defensive dilly-dallying in the fifth minute of stoppage time to seal the win.
    — Afp, chicagotribune.com, 6 Jan. 2018
  • In an attempt to egg him on through jealousy, Ness herself has been dallying, with unfortunate consequences.
    — Clair Wills, The New York Review of Books, 7 Jan. 2020
  • As is so often the case for Hong, his latest is a gentle, hypnotically watchable film that breezes by as Iris does herself, dallying around Seoul in a loose summer dress and her striking bright-green cardigan.
    — David Opie, IndieWire, 21 Nov. 2024
  • Their dallying tartness charts an ongoing conversation on the renowned love affair of sour and spice in Mexican cuisine — one worth celebrating.
    — Andrea Aliseda, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2024
  • The second gallery groups together stars, like Mr. Salle, with others, including Joyce Pensato, overlooked until recently, who dallied in the images of popular culture, pulling its meanings in provocative directions.
    — Roberta Smith, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2017
  • Lonergan is dallying intentionally in territory that might be tough to stomach if a director or an actor took themselves too seriously.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2024
  • Willkie’s heretofore sheepish fellow utility heads began to criticize the New Deal as well, including executives at General Electric, whose leadership had dallied with progressivism.
    — Amity Shlaes, WSJ, 13 Sep. 2018
  • Written as an undergraduate thesis at Amherst, where the novel occasionally dallies, Wallace tackles disappearing nursing home residents, talking cockatiels, and American society on rampage.
    — Adrienne Westenfeld, Town & Country, 3 Oct. 2014

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dally.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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