DEFER (deferred, deferring)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: deferred    , deferring   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does defer mean? 

• DEFER (verb)
  The verb DEFER has 2 senses:

1. hold back to a later time

2. yield to another's wish or opinion

  Familiarity information: DEFER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEFER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they defer    ... he / she / it defers   
Past simple: deferred   
Past participle: deferred   
-ing form: deferring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hold back to a later time

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

defer; hold over; postpone; prorogue; put off; put over; remit; set back; shelve; table

Context example:

let's postpone the exam

Hypernyms (to "defer" is one way to...):

delay (act later than planned, scheduled, or required)

"Defer" entails doing...:

reschedule (assign a new time and place for an event)

call off; cancel; scratch; scrub (postpone indefinitely or annul something that was scheduled)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "defer"):

call (stop or postpone because of adverse conditions, such as bad weather)

hold (stop dealing with)

suspend (render temporarily ineffective)

probate (put a convicted person on probation by suspending his sentence)

reprieve; respite (postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal, such as an execution)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

deferment; deferral (act of putting off to a future time)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Yield to another's wish or opinion

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

accede; bow; defer; give in; submit

Context example:

The government bowed to the military pressure

Hypernyms (to "defer" is one way to...):

buckle under; give in; knuckle under; succumb; yield (consent reluctantly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s to somebody

Derivation:

deference (courteous regard for people's feelings)

deferent (showing deference)

 Context examples 

"Is Mr. Rochester living at Thornfield Hall now?" I asked, knowing, of course, what the answer would be, but yet desirous of deferring the direct question as to where he really was.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I deferred to his opinion, though I had great doubts of it myself.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

An invitation to dinner was soon afterwards dispatched; and already had Mrs. Bennet planned the courses that were to do credit to her housekeeping, when an answer arrived which deferred it all.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

But his case was deferred to next day, principally for the reason that I did not know anything about broken ribs and would first have to read it up.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Her first proposal would have to be deferred to a more propitious time and a more eligible suitor.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

During deferred therapy, patients may be given certain exams and tests.

(Deferred therapy, NCI Dictionary)

Elective procedures can be deferred without increased risk of compromised outcome.

(Elective Surgical Procedure, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

My departure for Ingolstadt, which had been deferred by these events, was now again determined upon.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I have so deep a respect for the extraordinary qualities of Holmes that I have always deferred to his wishes, even when I least understood them.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This month you will defer to your partner to take the lead, and rightly so, for your partner will be the one to make things happen.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)