pause, suspension, intermission, interruption, break - a time interval during which there is a temporary cessation of something

extension - a mutually agreed delay in the date set for the completion of a job or payment of a debt; "they applied for an extension of the loan"

moratorium - a legally authorized postponement before some obligation must be discharged

retardation - the extent to which something is delayed or held back

disruption, interruption, gap, break - an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity; "it was presented without commercial breaks"

inactivity - being inactive; being less active

demurrage - detention of a ship or freight car or other cargo beyond its scheduled time of departure

forbearance - a delay in enforcing rights or claims or privileges; refraining from acting; "his forbearance to reply was alarming"

deferment, deferral, postponement - act of putting off to a future time

cunctation, procrastination, shillyshally - the act of procrastinating; putting off or delaying or defering an action to a later time

lag, slowdown, retardation - the act of slowing down or falling behind

dalliance, dawdling, trifling, wasting time - the deliberate act of wasting time instead of working

filibuster - a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches

lingering, tarriance - the act of tarrying

decelerate, slow, slow down, slow up, retard - lose velocity; move more slowly; "The car decelerated"

stonewall - engage in delaying tactics or refuse to cooperate; "The President stonewalled when he realized the plot was being uncovered by a journalist"

catch - delay or hold up; prevent from proceeding on schedule or as planned; "I was caught in traffic and missed the meeting"

stall - deliberately delay an event or action; "she doesn't want to write the report, so she is stalling"

buy time - act so as to delay an event or action in order to gain an advantage

pause, hesitate - interrupt temporarily an activity before continuing; "The speaker paused"

hold off, wait, hold back - wait before acting

dilly-dally, dillydally, drag one's feet, drag one's heels, procrastinate, stall, shillyshally - postpone doing what one should be doing; "He did not want to write the letter and procrastinated for days"

procrastinate - postpone or delay needlessly; "He procrastinated the matter until it was almost too late"

postpone, prorogue, put off, defer, set back, shelve, table, put over, remit, hold over - hold back to a later time; "let's postpone the exam"

retard, delay, check - slow the growth or development of; "The brain damage will retard the child's language development"

alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue"

dampen - check; keep in check (a fire)

detain, delay, stay - stop or halt; "Please stay the bloodshed!"