procrastinate
/pɹoʊˈkɹæs.tə.neɪt/verb
procrastinate is spelled P-R-O-C-R-A-S-T-I-N-A-T-E: 13 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, procrastinate means “To delay taking action; to wait until later” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in procrastinate?
| Letters | 13: P-R-O-C-R-A-S-T-I-N-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 41,154th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is procrastinate?
Procrastinate appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 41,154th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce procrastinate?
- UK /pɹəʊˈkɹæs.tɪ.neɪt/
- US /pɹoʊˈkɹæs.tə.neɪt/
- US /pɹəˈkɹæs.tə.neɪt/
Procrastinate has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-procrastinate.ogg, En-au-procrastinate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of procrastinate
- procrastinates present, singular, he/she/it
- procrastinating participle, present
- procrastinated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does procrastinate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To delay taking action; to wait until later.
He procrastinated until the last minute and had to stay up all night to finish.
- 2
To put off; to delay (something).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Procrastinate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | procrastiner |
| German | aufschieben, verzögern, vertagen, prokrastinieren , verschleppen |
| Portuguese | procrastinar |
| Spanish | hacer desidia, procrastinar , dejar para después |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does procrastinate come from?
First attested in 1548; from Latin prōcrastinātus, perfect passive participle of prōcrastinō (“defer, put off till tomorrow”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from prō- (“in favor of”) + crāstinus (“of or belonging to tomorrow”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), from crās (“tomorrow”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).