Is this a speech delay?

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When I was young, I would think for about 2-3 seconds before answering questions

No, speech delay is failing to meet the average milestone at which a person first begins to speak.

Oh ok thanks for the clarification

You only have a "speech delay," in my opinion, if you're two years old and speak NO words.

What constitutes a speech delay depends on age.

At 2, yes, you'd have to be pretty much nonverbal to be considered speech-delayed.

At 4, most kids have mostly adult-style sentences, with the exception of minor grammatical errors like overregularization. So a 4 year old who is using telegraphic sentences (me want cookie) would be delayed.

At around 8 years, kids no longer have any minor grammar errors. After this, kids don't really have anything more in terms of grammar to learn, but they keep gaining vocabulary. So after awhile, kids with mild speech delay typically have fine grammar, but a smaller vocabulary than most kids.

Also, a child with a mild speech delay might have said their first words at the usual age, but fallen behind at a later age.

I wouldn't say that a child has to be completely nonverbal at the age of 2 to have a speech delay: the average vocabulary of a typical two-year-old is fifty words, and they are beginning to string those words into two-word sentences. A child who has, say, 10-25 words would qualify as speech delayed, as well as if they weren't stringing words together as two to three word sentences by age three at the latest.

What you describe would be considered a processing delay if it lasted longer. Most people need 2-3 seconds to process words and form a reply. However, if it took conscious effort to parse out what the person was saying to you, and it took you longer than 5-10 seconds to come up with an adequate response, that would qualify as a processing delay, but not necessarily a speech delay.

If a child occasionally says a few words but not for communication at age two, that is a speech delay, as normal two-year-olds are already using one, two, or few words to communicate. If the child also doesn't point or try to communicate non-verbally, then that is marker for autism with speech delay, not just speech delay.

Of course, one has to consider all variables when one determines the existence of a speech delay.

I was severely speech-delayed. I didn't speak until age 5 1/2. I don't know about babbling, joint-attention, etc. My parents didn't keep track of that stuff.

I came out okay, though, fortunately.

Pointing, gesturing, miming, and other attempts at non-verbal communication are important when assessing autism in children, because these are indicators against autism even with a speech delay or lack of speech. Some children simply have delayed speech development without autism.