PUT OFF

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does put off mean? 

• PUT OFF (verb)
  The verb PUT OFF has 5 senses:

1. hold back to a later time

2. cause to feel intense dislike or distaste

3. take away the enthusiasm of

4. cause to feel embarrassment

5. avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)

  Familiarity information: PUT OFF used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUT OFF (verb)

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 "put off" is one way to...):

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

"Put off" 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 "put off"):

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:

putoff (a pretext for delay or inaction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to feel intense dislike or distaste

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

put off; turn off

Hypernyms (to "put off" is one way to...):

repel; repulse (be repellent to; cause aversion in)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to put off Sue

Sense 3

Meaning:

Take away the enthusiasm of

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

dishearten; put off

Hypernyms (to "put off" is one way to...):

discourage (deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to put off Sue

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause to feel embarrassment

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

confuse; disconcert; flurry; put off

Context example:

The constant attention of the young man confused her

Hypernyms (to "put off" is one way to...):

abash; embarrass (cause to be embarrassed; cause to feel self-conscious)

Verb group:

bedevil; befuddle; confound; confuse; discombobulate; fox; fuddle; throw (be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly)

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

fluster (cause to be nervous or upset)

bother (make confused or perplexed or puzzled)

deflect; distract (draw someone's attention away from something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will put off him

Sense 5

Meaning:

Avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

circumvent; dodge; duck; elude; evade; fudge; hedge; parry; put off; sidestep; skirt

Context example:

he evaded the questions skillfully

Hypernyms (to "put off" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

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

beg (dodge, avoid answering, or take for granted)

quibble (evade the truth of a point or question by raising irrelevant objections)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

“It would be so easy to tell Miss Tilney that you had just been reminded of a prior engagement, and must only beg to put off the walk till Tuesday.”

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Many a time, when you were put off with a slight word, he has taken Me to his heart!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

His professional engagements did not allow of his being put off, but both father and daughter were disturbed by its happening so.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

However, I recollected afterwards that if he had been prevented going, the wedding need not be put off, for Mr. Darcy might have done as well.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

If you are ready, there will be no reason to put off that decision.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I can give you one if I put off the Count.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And I am a hard woman,—impossible to put off.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"If you would but let us know what your business is," said Mrs. Jennings, "we might see whether it could be put off or not."

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

But surely you may put off this old lady till to-morrow: she is not so near her end, I presume, but that she may hope to see another day.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

My master added, that he was daily pressed by the Houyhnhnms of the neighbourhood to have the assembly’s exhortation executed, which he could not put off much longer.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)