defer

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“
The moderator tried again to get the candidates to list something they would drop or defer, and Obama again said healthcare was essential:

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. transitive verb To put off; postpone.
  2. transitive verb To postpone the induction of (one eligible for the military draft).
  3. intransitive verb To procrastinate.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (50)

  • "For most people in the new vehicle market, it's really easy to defer the purchase -- defer a month, defer a year, defer five years," Hossack said.
  • Too many tasks, too little timeHard to decide which is most importantNo clear process that allows you to defer or delegate —  Recently Uploaded Slideshows
  • Do tasks NOW - or else delegate, defer, or delete. —  Recently Uploaded Slideshows
  • Pakistan has been in talks with Saudi Arabia to defer or forgive about $6 billion in oil debts, but no agreement has been announced. —  Top Stories - Google News
  • The Rome statute that set up the International Criminal Court allows the Security Council to vote to defer or suspend for a year the investigation or prosecution of a case.
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

defer:   deferring ·  deferred ·  defers
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English differren, to postpone, differ; see differ.
  2. 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.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Old French deferer, French déférer = Spanish Portuguese deferir = Italian deferire, charge, accuse, intransitive give way, from Latin deferre (past participle delatus), bring down, bring before, give, grant, also (with accusative nomen = English name) charge, accuse, from de, down, + ferre = English bear. Cf. delate.
  2. An alteration, after defer, of differ, from Middle English differren (rare), put off, from Old French differer, French différer = Spanish diferir = Portuguese differir = Italian deferire, diferire, defer, delay, from Latin differre (past participle dilatus), carry different ways, scatter, put off, defer (intransitive differ, be different, whence directly English differ), from dis-, apart, away, + ferre, carry, = English bear: see differ, dilate, delay.
 

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/dəˈfər/
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