defer

«defer» in Mova's school dictionary: To put off something until later; to delay: the meeting… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (defer, defers, deferred, deferring)

meaning for a pupil

1) (formal) To put off something until later; to delay: the meeting was deferred until next week. tree →

2) (formal) Defer to: to accept someone else's opinion or decision because you respect them or they know more: I defer to your experience. tree →

sense in the lessons

A formal word of letters, school notices and exam language. In everyday talk people say "put off" or "postpone". Phrases: defer to, deferred payment, defer a decision.

examples

• (formal) The trip has been deferred because of the snow. tree →
• The decision was deferred until all the parents had replied. tree →
• On matters of football, I defer to my brother. tree →
• (formal) Payment may be deferred until the end of the month. tree →
• She deferred her university place for a year. tree →
• (formal) Subsequently, the match was deferred to the following Saturday. tree →
• As the hunchback was one of the Sultan's private jesters, the chief of police resolved to defer sentence of death until he had consulted his master. tree →

note

Double r in the past: deferred, deferring. Stress on the second syllable: de-FER. Nouns: deferral (delay), deference (respect). Same as "postpone" in the first meaning.

In the corpora

• "Deferred success" is a joking UK phrase for failure.
• And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter.
• Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «defer» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.