How to use tardy in a sentence

15 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Tardy means late; overdue or delayed. Example: “He yawned, then raised a tardy hand over his mouth.”

Examples of tardy by meaning

adjectiveLate; overdue or delayed.

He yawned, then raised a tardy hand over his mouth.
As a matter of fact, the luncheon fare, when it made its tardy appearance, was distinctly unworthy of the reputation which the justly-treasured cook had built up for herself.1914, Saki, “The Stake”, in Beasts and Super-Beasts, London: John Lane, pages 202–203
And the Black Muslims, along with many people who are not Muslims, no longer wish for a recognition so grudging and (should it ever be achieved) so tardy.1963, James Baldwin, “Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind”, in The Fire Next Time, New York: Dial, page 87

adjectiveIneffectual; slow-witted, slow to act, or dull.

His tardy performance bordered on incompetence.

nounA 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.

verbTo 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.2001, Donna Morrissey, Kit's Law, page 86

More sentences with tardy

The teacher accepted her tardy slip and allowed her to come into the classroom after the bell.From the entry tardy slip
Just one more tardy and you'll be staying after school.From the entry school
The dolliers were tardy too; the coal should have been brought and the boilers stoked by 5.30.2015, Emily Woof, The Lightning Tree. From the entry dollier
Even more tardy, baseball ultimately banned andro.2009 January 13, George Vecsey, “Voters Cannot Forgive or Forget Suspicions of McGwire’s Drug Use”, in New York Times. From the entry andro
Returning on time is crucial, because a late return can be considered a tardy, and too many tardies can blotch an employment record.2007, Patricia A. Gwartney, The Telephone Interviewer's Handbook, →ISBN. From the entry blotch
With their nights’ growths of beard, matted hair, bloodshot eyes, miasmata of foul breath, DeCoverley and Joaquin are wasted gods urging on a tardy glacier.1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow. From the entry miasmata
While Nathan took his time walking toward the front office to get a tardy slip, he got a text message on his cellphone from his mother.2015, Monica Helene Thomas, I'll Never Amount to Nothing So You Say, →ISBN. From the entry front office
The next morning, the boy who thought of himself as a shadow senior at the local high school waited to be let into the donuteria by his tardy boss.2014, Norman C. Hendricks, “Mugloo”, in Strange Shorts, [Frederick, Md.]: America Star Books, →ISBN, page 116. From the entry donuteria
He has wittily redone a tardy epithalamium and some nursery rhymes ("Three blind eunuchs"), and deftly catches the cozy lawnfuls of plastic dwarfs and flamingos, outside the kenneled people.1976, Choice - Volume 13, Issues 8-12, page 1300. From the entry epithalamium

Meaning of tardy

adjective Late; overdue or delayed.
adjective Moving with a slow pace or motion; not swift.
adjective Ineffectual; slow-witted, slow to act, or dull.

Full definition of tardy

Questions about tardy in a sentence

How do you use tardy in a sentence?: Tardy is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “He yawned, then raised a tardy hand over his mouth.”
What is a short sentence with tardy?: “His tardy performance bordered on incompetence.”
What does tardy mean?: Tardy means late; overdue or delayed.

Adapted from Wiktionary: tardy (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use tardy in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/tardy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.