nonsimultaneous

Happening at different times

Nonsimultaneous describes events or actions that do not occur at the same time.

The term appears most often in technical contexts—physics, telecommunications, and music—where the timing relationship between events matters.

In asynchronous communication, for instance, messages are nonsimultaneous because sender and receiver don't need to be present together: Email is nonsimultaneous, unlike a phone call.

The word simply negates simultaneous, emphasizing sequence or separation in time rather than overlap.

sequential

consecutive

Following in unbroken sequence

successiveFollowing without interruption
serialOccurring in ordered succession
chronologicalOrdered by time

linear · subsequent · following · succeeding · orderly · progressive · chain · sequence · stepwise · tandem

staggered

offset

Compensate by opposing force

overlappingCovering part of another
phasedIntroduced or removed incrementally
alternatingOccurring in turns

interlaced · interleaved · rolling · echelon · tiered · rotating · distributed · spaced · intervals · wave

asynchronous

out-of-sync

Not coordinated together

deferredSet aside until later
queuedWaited in sequence
latencyDelay in system response

lag · buffering · offline · on-demand · pre-recorded · streaming · real-time · callback · polling · await

delayed

postponed

Moved to a later date

deferredSet aside until later
belatedArriving after expected
lateNot on time

tardy · overdue · rescheduled · lagged · adjourned · suspended · latent · pending · backlogged · queued

Opposites

temporal co-occurrence

nonsimultaneoussimultaneous

Happening at same time

synchronous · concurrent · coexistent · coexisting · coeval

Family

synchronize, simultaneous, simultaneously, synchronized, simultaneity, synchronization, asynchronous, desynchronization, desynchronized

Familiarity: Top 1,000,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G