temporize

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.

verb

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.
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.
   This is especially true when we're faced with temporizing a patient who will ultimately receive veneer restorations. 2005, Dental Economics, volume 95, Tulsa, Okla.: PennWell Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 66
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”).
   Though that her heart were fired, and swollen with anger, she temporiseth so, 'twas undiscovered: … 1627, E. F. [i.e., Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland], 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, part 2 (Prose), page 176
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To delay, especially until a more favourable time; to procrastinate.