temporize

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English

Etymology

From Middle French temporiser (to wait one's time, temporize) + English -ize (suffix forming verbs). Temporiser is derived from Medieval Latin temporizāre, from Latin temporāre (to delay, put off) + -izāre (suffix forming the present active infinitive of verbs). Temporāre is derived from tempor-, the inflected stem of tempus (age, time, period; season of the year; due, opportune, or proper time) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *temp-, *ten- (to extend, stretch (in the sense of a stretch of time)), or *temh₁- (to cut (in the sense of a section of time))) + -āre. Compare temporalize.

Pronunciation

Verb

temporize (third-person singular simple present temporizes, present participle temporizing, simple past and past participle temporized) (American spelling, Oxford British English)

  1. (intransitive) To deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion in order to gain time or postpone a decision, sometimes so that a compromise can be reached or simply to make a conversation more temperate; to stall for time.
    • 2020, Nghi Vo, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, chapter 8:
      “There are more answers to that than you may think,” Chih temporized, because there were, but they could see that there was only one answer that really mattered to tigers.
  2. (intransitive, by extension) To discuss, to negotiate; to reach a compromise.
  3. (transitive, dentistry) To apply a temporary piece of dental work that will later be removed.
    • 2005, Dental Economics, volume 95, Tulsa, Okla.: PennWell Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 66:
      This is especially true when we're faced with temporizing a patient who will ultimately receive veneer restorations.
  4. (intransitive, archaic) To comply with the occasion or time; to humour, or yield to, current circumstances or opinion; also, to trim (fluctuate between parties, so as to appear to favour each).
    • 1595, Samuel Daniel, “The Fovvrth Booke”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: P Short for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, stanza 102, folio , recto:
      Yet ſeeking at the firſt to temporize, / She tries if that ſome ſhort impriſonment / would calme their heat; when that would not ſuffize, / Then to exile him ſhee muſt needes conſent:
    • 1624, Democritus Junior , “Against Pouerty and Want, with Such Other Adversity”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 3, member 3, page 268:
      Happy he, in that he is freed from the tumults of the world, hee ſeekes no honours, gapes after no preferment, flatters not, envies not, temporizeth not, but liues priuately, and well contented with his eſtate,
    • 1627, E. F. , The History of the Life, Reign, and Death of Edward II, King of England, and Lord of Ireland: , London: J. C. for Charles Harper Samuel Crouch and Thomas Fox , published 1680, →OCLC, lines 301–302; republished in Randall Martin, editor, Women Writers in Renaissance England, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 2014, →ISBN, part 2 (Prose), page 176:
      Though that her heart were fired, and swollen with anger, she temporiseth so, 'twas undiscovered:
    • 1751 December (indicated as 1752), Henry Fielding, “A Curious Conversation between the Doctor, the Young Clergyman, and the Young Clergyman’s Father”, in Amelia, volume III, London: ">…] for A Millar , →OCLC, book IX, page 322:
      How do you expect to riſe in the Church, if you can't temporize, and give into the Opinion of your Superiors?
    • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 298:
      Penn, therefore, exhorted the fellows not to rely on the goodness of their cause, but to submit, or at least to temporise.
  5. (intransitive, obsolete) To delay, especially until a more favourable time; to procrastinate.
  6. (transitive, medicine) To take temporary measures or actions to manage a situation without providing a definitive or permanent solution.

Conjugation

Conjugation of temporize
infinitive (to) temporize
present tense past tense
1st-person singular temporize temporized
2nd-person singular temporize, temporizest temporized, temporizedst
3rd-person singular temporizes, temporizeth temporized
plural temporize
subjunctive temporize temporized
imperative temporize
participles temporizing temporized

Archaic or obsolete.

Alternative forms

Derived terms

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References