transition-delay - CSS: Cascading Style Sheets

The transition-delay CSS property specifies the duration to wait before starting a property's transition effect when its value changes.

The delay may be zero, positive, or negative:

A value of 0s (or 0ms) will begin the transition effect immediately.
A positive value will delay the start of the transition effect for the given length of time.
A negative value will begin the transition effect immediately, and partway through the effect. In other words, the effect will be animated as if it had already been running for the given length of time.

You may specify multiple delays, which is useful when transitioning multiple properties. 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, the list of delay values will be repeated until there are enough. If there are more delays, the list of delay values will be truncated to match the number of properties. In both cases, the CSS declaration remains valid.

Syntax

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

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

Values

<time>: Denotes the amount of time to wait between a property's value changing and the start of the transition effect.

Formal definition

Initial value	`0s`
Applies to	all elements, `::before` and `::after` pseudo-elements
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

<time>#

Examples

A series of examples with different delays set

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

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