This is an experimental technology
Because this technology's specification has not stabilized, check the compatibility table for usage in various browsers. Also note that the syntax and behavior of an experimental technology is subject to change in future versions of browsers as the specification changes.

Summary

The transition-delay CSS property specifies the amount of time to wait between a change being requested to a property that is to be transitioned and the start of the transition effect.

A value of 0s, or 0ms, indicates that the property will begin to animate its transition immediately when the value changes; positive values will delay the start of the transition effect for the corresponding number of seconds. Negative values cause the transition to begin immediately, but to cause the transition to seem to begin partway through the animation effect.

You may specify multiple delays; each delay will be applied to the corresponding property as specified by the transition-property property, which acts as a master list. If there are fewer delays specified than in the master list, missing values are set to the initial value (0s). If there are more delays, the list is simply truncated to the right size. In both case the CSS declaration stays valid.

Initial value0s
Applies toall elements, ::before and ::after pseudo-elements
Inheritedno
Mediainteractive
Computed valueas specified
Animatableno
Canonical orderthe unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

/* <time> values */
transition-delay: 3s;
transition-delay: 2s, 4ms;

/* Global values */
transition-delay: inherit;
transition-delay: initial;
transition-delay: unset;

Values

<time>
Is a <time> denoting the amount of time to wait between a property's value changing and the start of the animation effect.

Formal syntax

<time>#

Examples

transition-delay: 0.5s

 <div class="parent">
  <div class="box">Lorem</div>
</div>
  
.parent { width: 250px; height:125px;}
.box {
    width: 100px;
    height: 100px;
    background-color: red;
    font-size: 20px;
    left: 0px;
    top: 0px;
    position:absolute;
    -webkit-transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    -webkit-transition-duration:2s;
    -webkit-transition-delay:0.5s;
    -webkit-transition-timing-function: linear;
    transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    transition-duration:2s;
    transition-delay:0.5s;
    transition-timing-function: linear;
}
.box1{
    width: 50px;
    height: 50px;
    background-color: blue;
    color: yellow;
    font-size: 18px;
    left: 150px;
    top:25px;
    position:absolute;
     -webkit-transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    -webkit-transition-duration:2s;
    -webkit-transition-delay:0.5s;
    -webkit-transition-timing-function: linear;
    transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    transition-duration:2s;
    transition-delay:0.5s;
    transition-timing-function: linear;
}

function updateTransition() {
  var el = document.querySelector("div.box");
   
  if (el) {
    el.className = "box1";
  } else {
    el = document.querySelector("div.box1");
    el.className = "box";
  }
   
  return el;
}

var intervalID = window.setInterval(updateTransition, 7000);

transition-delay: 1s

 <div class="parent">
  <div class="box">Lorem</div>
</div>
  
.parent { width: 250px; height:125px;}
.box {
    width: 100px;
    height: 100px;
    background-color: red;
    font-size: 20px;
    left: 0px;
    top: 0px;
    position:absolute;
     -webkit-transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    -webkit-transition-duration:2s;
    -webkit-transition-delay:1s;
    -webkit-transition-timing-function: linear;
    transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    transition-duration:2s;
    transition-delay:1s;
    transition-timing-function: linear;
}
.box1{
    width: 50px;
    height: 50px;
    background-color: blue;
    color: yellow;
    font-size: 18px;
    left: 150px;
    top:25px;
    position:absolute;
    -webkit-transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    -webkit-transition-duration:2s;
    -webkit-transition-delay:1s;
    -webkit-transition-timing-function: linear;
    transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    transition-duration:2s;
    transition-delay:1s;
    transition-timing-function: linear;
}

function updateTransition() {
  var el = document.querySelector("div.box");
   
  if (el) {
    el.className = "box1";
  } else {
    el = document.querySelector("div.box1");
    el.className = "box";
  }
   
  return el;
}

var intervalID = window.setInterval(updateTransition, 7000);

transition-delay: 2s

 <div class="parent">
  <div class="box">Lorem</div>
</div>
  
.parent { width: 250px; height:125px;}
.box {
    width: 100px;
    height: 100px;
    background-color: red;
    font-size: 20px;
    left: 0px;
    top: 0px;
    position:absolute;
    -webkit-transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    -webkit-transition-duration:2s;
    -webkit-transition-delay:2s;
    -webkit-transition-timing-function: linear;
    transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    transition-duration:2s;
    transition-delay:2s;
    transition-timing-function: linear;
}
.box1{
    width: 50px;
    height: 50px;
    background-color: blue;
    color: yellow;
    font-size: 18px;
    left: 150px;
    top:25px;
    position:absolute;
    -webkit-transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    -webkit-transition-duration:2s;
    -webkit-transition-delay:2s;
    -webkit-transition-timing-function: linear;
    transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    transition-duration:2s;
    transition-delay:2s;
    transition-timing-function: linear;
}

function updateTransition() {
  var el = document.querySelector("div.box");
   
  if (el) {
    el.className = "box1";
  } else {
    el = document.querySelector("div.box1");
    el.className = "box";
  }
   
  return el;
}

var intervalID = window.setInterval(updateTransition, 7000);

transition-delay: 4s

 <div class="parent">
  <div class="box">Lorem</div>
</div>
  
.parent { width: 250px; height:125px;}
.box {
    width: 100px;
    height: 100px;
    background-color: red;
    font-size: 20px;
    left: 0px;
    top: 0px;
    position:absolute;
    -webkit-transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    -webkit-transition-duration:2s;
    -webkit-transition-delay:4s;
    -webkit-transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;
    transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    transition-duration:2s;
    transition-delay:4s;
    transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;
}
.box1{
    width: 50px;
    height: 50px;
    background-color: blue;
    color: yellow;
    font-size: 18px;
    left: 150px;
    top:25px;
    position:absolute;
    -webkit-transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    -webkit-transition-duration:2s;
    -webkit-transition-delay:4s;
    -webkit-transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;
    transition-property: width height background-color font-size left top color;
    transition-duration:2s;
    transition-delay:4s;
    transition-timing-function: ease-in-out;
}

function updateTransition() {
  var el = document.querySelector("div.box");
   
  if (el) {
    el.className = "box1";
  } else {
    el = document.querySelector("div.box1");
    el.className = "box";
  }
   
  return el;
}

var intervalID = window.setInterval(updateTransition, 7000);

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
CSS Transitions
The definition of 'transition-delay' in that specification.		 Working Draft Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support 1.0 -webkit 4.0 (2.0) -moz
16.0 (16.0)[1]		 10.0 11.6 -o
12.10		 3.0 -webkit
Feature Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support 2.1 -webkit 4.0 (2.0) -moz
16.0 (16.0)[1]		 ? 10.0 -o
12.10[2]		 3.2 -webkit

[1] In addition to the unprefixed support, Gecko 44.0 (Firefox 44.0 / Thunderbird 44.0 / SeaMonkey 2.41) added support for a -webkit prefixed version of the property for web compatibility reasons behind the preference layout.css.prefixes.webkit, defaulting to false. Since Gecko 49.0 (Firefox 49.0 / Thunderbird 49.0 / SeaMonkey 2.46) the preference defaults to true.

[2] See blog post about Opera 12.50.

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

Tags: 
 Contributors to this page: Sebastianz, mrstork, fscholz, teoli, tregagnon, kscarfone, Sheppy, ethertank, CutenessOverload, yyss, Bzbarsky
 Last updated by: Sebastianz,