1. be delayed: to make someone or something late - use this especially about a problem or something unexpected

例：

The President's visit had to be delayed because of security problems. （因为安保问题，总统的访问行程得推后一下。）

The opening of the new bridge may be delayed for several months. （新大桥得延迟几个月通车。）

Mr Evans has been delayed but will be joining us shortly. （伊万先生有事迟了，但他很快会赶上我们的。）

Our plane was delayed by fog. （我们的航班因为大雾延误了。）

I mustn't delay you any longer. （我不能再耽误你的时间了。）

get delayed

There was an accident on the freeway and we got delayed. （高速上出了事故，我们迟到了。）

2. make somebody late: to delay someone or something so that they arrive somewhere late

例：

make somebody late for

The accident made us late for work. （出了交通意外，导致我们上班迟到了。）

I'll let you go—I don't want to make you late for your appointment. （我会放你走，我不想你约会迟到。）

make somebody late doing something

Catching a later train made Frank late getting to the office. （弗朗克没赶上早班车，上班迟到了。）

3. hold up: to make someone or something stop or go more slowly when they are going somewhere

例：

hold somebody up

I won't hold you up—I can see you're in a hurry. （我不会耽误你的时间，我知道你很忙。）

They should have finished that job on Friday—what's holding them up? （他们本该周五完工的，因为什么原因拖延了？）

hold up somebody/something

Get a move on, you two! You're holding up the whole queue! （你们俩往前走啊！你们挡住整队的人了！）

Her stubbornness on this one issue is holding the whole deal up. （她一直抓着这个问题不放，拖慢了整件事的进度。）

be/get held up

We got held up in traffic and missed the show. （我们堵车了，没看成演出。）

补充：''hold up''的名词形式''hold-up/holdup''。

hold-up/holdup: a delay, especially one caused by an unexpected problem, that interrupts a journey or a piece of work

例：

An accident on the London-Brighton road has caused a major hold-up. （伦敦-布莱顿路上发生一起交通事故，引起了严重的交通堵塞。 ）

There's been a hold-up with the builders, so the new office won't be ready for several months. （建筑工人没有按时完工，所以新办公室得再等几个月才能盖好。）

4. keep: to delay someone when they are trying to go somewhere

备注：''keep''是非正式的用法。

例：

He should be here by now. What's keeping him? （他现在应该要到啦！怎么迟到了？）

5. detain: to delay someone, especially by keeping them talking or working

备注：''detain''是正式的用法。

例：

I won't detain you for much longer, Miss White. There are just a few more questions that I need to ask you. （怀特小姐，我不会耽误你很久时间，我还要问你几个问题。）

be unavoidably detained (=by something that you cannot prevent)

Mr Jones should be here, but I'm afraid he's been unavoidably detained. （琼斯先生应该要到了，恐怕他有什么特别重要的事耽搁了，所以迟到了。）

6. be stuck: to be impossible or unable to move from a particular position （被堵在某一地点）

例：

They got stuck in a traffic jam. （他们堵车了。）