Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To put off; postpone.
- v. To postpone the induction of (one eligible for the military draft).
- v. To procrastinate.
- v. To submit to the opinion, wishes, or decision of another through respect or in recognition of his or her authority, knowledge, or judgment. See Synonyms at yield.
- v. To commit or entrust to another.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To offer; render; assign: as, to defer the command of an army.
- To refer; leave to another's judgment and determination
- To yield to another's opinion; submit in opinion: with to.
- To delay; put off; postpone to a future time: as, to defer the execution of a design.
- To cause to wait; remand; put off: applied to persons.
- To wait; delay; procrastinate.
Wiktionary
- v. To delay, or postpone, especially to postpone induction into military service.
- v. law To submit to the opinion or desire of another in respect to their judgment or authority.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To put off; to postpone to a future time; to delay the execution of; to delay; to withhold.
- v. To put off; to delay to act; to wait.
- v. obsolete To render or offer.
- v. To lay before; to submit in a respectful manner; to refer; -- with
to . - v. To yield deference to the wishes of another; to submit to the opinion of another, or to authority; -- with
to .
WordNet 3.0
- v. yield to another's wish or opinion
- v. hold back to a later time
Etymologies
- Middle English differren, to postpone, differ; see differ.Middle English deferen, from Old French deferer, from Latin dēferre, to carry away, refer to : dē-, de- + ferre, to carry; see bher-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“To defer from the steven King inflection it should be referenced as a Viral of vampires.”
“Captain Sears did defer, that is he seldom opposed.”
“Now you may wonder why it's called defer and lazyload and I talked about not loading at all.”
“One alternative: defer social security -- it also increases 8% for every year you defer, which is higher than most investments pay.”
“Although he said he wanted to come back for a final year in 2010, Bowden chose to call it a career after reviewing the parameters the school sought to have him work within next year -- namely defer much of his responsibility to coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher.”
“Although he said he wanted to come back for a final year in 2010, Bowden chose to call it a career after reviewing the parameters the school sought to have him work within next year - namely defer much of his responsibility to coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher.”
“At this week's Homeland Security hearing, when FBI Director Mueller was questioned about it by Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich), Mueller said he would "defer" to the Justice Department on the issue.”
The Huffington Post: Dennis A. Henigan: Close the "Terror Gap": Good Policy, Good Politics
“It's not just the fact that Cheney never served in the military; it's that all the archtects of the Iraq War – Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rove, and many of their most vocal supporters like Limbaugh – all found ways to "defer" from serving.”
Cheney wrong on interrogation inquiry facts, Obama official says
“April 30th is effectively the end for Shuttle and just this week, CxP began looking at plans to mostly "defer" the Lunar capabilities on Orion, effectively killing the original purpose of the program.”
“Recognizing that the U.S. has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, the government should not eliminate the current provision that allows companies to "defer" paying a U.S. tax on foreign income until it is brought back into this country.”
The Wall Street Journal: A Centrist Agenda for Economic Growth
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘defer’.
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BUDG - general terms
Budgetese - not a sexy topic but a very comprehensive list of words and collocations used in EU circles. Budgeting experts please comment and expand.
heading, across-the-board ..., emergency reserve, frontload, mopping-up, performance reserve, positive margin, negative margin, public finances, structural operat..., administrative ex..., management of EU ... and 657 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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CONT - general terms
additionality, audit trail, accounting standards, auditing standards, general audit obj..., a posteriori audit, a priori audit, above board, acceptable error ..., access rights, accountability, accountable entities and 1283 more...
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sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 100 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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writing first chapter
revolve, vital, necessity, depict, archery, indegenous, native, lacrosse, similarly, recess, composition, indicator and 91 more...
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generationnext's Words
petulant, vehement, pensive, lascivious, vacillate, histrionic, satiated, svelte, lithe, zeitgeist, viscous, sommelier and 526 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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Miscellany
avid, shard, begone, gibes, romantic, inspiration, dashing, affliction, daring, elocution, hegemony, supercalifragilis... and 97 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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DYSLEXIC'S DREAD
Words That Make Sense in Reverse Too! Bad news for a dyslexic, 'cause s/he's got no clue if s/he read the word correctly or not, as opposed to a palindrome (i.e., no mistake possible, cf. "Dyslexic...
tool, lever, nap, pool, leer, leek, desserts, strop, doom, ukiah, yaws, ward and 213 more...
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Carry Me Home
Another kind of bear list: words bearing the -fer suffix ("that which carries"), the -ferous suffix ("bearing," "producing," or "yielding").
Also see (if you like) Carry Me Home Again.aquifer, conifer, umbellifer, transfer, thurifer, defer, telfer, suffer, rotifer, refer, foraminifer, poriferous and 157 more...
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ifjuly's list
favorite words. some are made up injokes between me and my husband or family.
skein, zaftig, july, bed, orifice, aesthete, ink, parce-que, desormais, cake, pusillanimous, pulse and 531 more...
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fearraigh's Words
heretofore, seldom, cunt, calamity, overhead, phalanx, flunky, factotum, terrestrial, dormant, afflatus, periphery and 156 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for defer.

oroboros Refed in reverse. Nov 2, 2007