Defer
verb
Postpone or delay.
They chose to defer the decision until next month
Often appears as...
- defer the decision
- defer the meeting
verb
Also, submit or yield to another's wish or opinion.
She will defer to her husband's better judgement
Often appears as...
- defer to authority
- defer to judgement
Usage tips
Formal
verb
Hold back to a later time.
They chose to defer the payment of the loan
Often appears as...
- defer payment
- defer loan
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
verb
Postpone or delay.
They chose to defer the decision until next month
Often appears as...
- defer the decision
- defer the meeting
verb
Also, submit or yield to another's wish or opinion.
She will defer to her husband's better judgement
Often appears as...
- defer to authority
- defer to judgement
Usage tips
Formal
verb
Hold back to a later time.
They chose to defer the payment of the loan
Often appears as...
- defer payment
- defer loan
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Planned Delay
Use 'defer' when a decision or action is intentionally postponed to a specific time.
The committee will defer their vote until the audit is complete.
Pro Tip 2/3Active Choice
'Defer' implies an active decision to delay, not caused by external factors.
We will defer launching the product, awaiting better market conditions.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Immediate
'Defer' is used when something is put off for a period, not just briefly.
Due to her busy schedule, she deferred the meeting to next month.
Pro Tip 1/3Planned Delay
Use 'defer' when a decision or action is intentionally postponed to a specific time.
The committee will defer their vote until the audit is complete.
Pro Tip 2/3Active Choice
'Defer' implies an active decision to delay, not caused by external factors.
We will defer launching the product, awaiting better market conditions.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Immediate
'Defer' is used when something is put off for a period, not just briefly.
Due to her busy schedule, she deferred the meeting to next month.
Pro Tip 1/3Planned Delay
Use 'defer' when a decision or action is intentionally postponed to a specific time.
The committee will defer their vote until the audit is complete.
Pro Tip 2/3Active Choice
'Defer' implies an active decision to delay, not caused by external factors.
We will defer launching the product, awaiting better market conditions.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Immediate
'Defer' is used when something is put off for a period, not just briefly.
Due to her busy schedule, she deferred the meeting to next month.
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Video examples
How health workers are...
of calling the collateral damage I'm deferred health problems that really could have benefited from an earlier visit to the hospital emergency room or and in-person visit to your doc to your doctor or nurse practitioner or whoever and you know as the months have gone on and you know we've been dealing with this as a country as a world you know
Video examples
How state budgets are...
money they're not supposed to but they figure out a way they make you pay more withholding just helped their cash flow out they sell off the assets they defer the payments they sell off the revenues from tobacco in California is not unique impact there's about five states that are worse the
Video examples
Cradle of Gold: The...
ruins itself sometimes it's best to defer to his writing on the place when he first saw it it captured his imagination as a jungle covered maze of small and large walls the ruins of buildings made of blocks of white granite most carefully cut and beautifully fitted together without
Video examples
Richard Ledgett: The NSA...
I said, yeah, it's worth a conversation. This is something that the attorney general of the United States and the president also actually have both talked about this, and I defer to the attorney general, because this is his lane. But there is a strong tradition
Video examples
For survivors of Ebola,...
Some survivors experienced delayed or deferred admission due to limited bed capacity. No bed available for one more patient. This is neither national policy nor officially condoned, but many people are still afraid of the sporadic resurgence of Ebola virus.
Video examples
Sheena Iyengar: The art...
The first-generation children were strongly influenced by their immigrant parents' approach to choice. For them, choice was not just a way of defining and asserting their individuality, but a way to create community and harmony by deferring to the choices
Video examples
How to manage your time...
triggered a massive improvement in laptop battery life. This is because deferring interruptions lets a system check everything at once, then quickly re-enter a low-power state. As with computers, so it is with us. Perhaps adopting a similar approach
Video examples
How state budgets are...
They borrow money. They're not supposed to, but they figure out a way. They make you pay more in withholding just to help their cash flow out. They sell off the assets. They defer the payments. They sell off the revenues from tobacco.
Video examples
My 105 Days in Taliban...
And in my dream, everything came full circle. This past summer, I deferred one dream for another when I put medical school on hold, founded Human First Coalition, an organization dedicated to aiding Afghans in need.
Video examples
Pulling back the curtain...
in those bailouts the earlier bailouts they have structured it so that the interest payments are not falling due immediately in fact those are deferred and capitalized and there's not interest
Video examples
How health workers are...
of calling the collateral damage I'm deferred health problems that really could have benefited from an earlier visit to the hospital emergency room or and in-person visit to your doc to your doctor or nurse practitioner or whoever and you know as the months have gone on and you know we've been dealing with this as a country as a world you know
Video examples
How state budgets are...
money they're not supposed to but they figure out a way they make you pay more withholding just helped their cash flow out they sell off the assets they defer the payments they sell off the revenues from tobacco in California is not unique impact there's about five states that are worse the
Video examples
Cradle of Gold: The...
ruins itself sometimes it's best to defer to his writing on the place when he first saw it it captured his imagination as a jungle covered maze of small and large walls the ruins of buildings made of blocks of white granite most carefully cut and beautifully fitted together without
Video examples
Richard Ledgett: The NSA...
I said, yeah, it's worth a conversation. This is something that the attorney general of the United States and the president also actually have both talked about this, and I defer to the attorney general, because this is his lane. But there is a strong tradition
Video examples
For survivors of Ebola,...
Some survivors experienced delayed or deferred admission due to limited bed capacity. No bed available for one more patient. This is neither national policy nor officially condoned, but many people are still afraid of the sporadic resurgence of Ebola virus.
Video examples
Sheena Iyengar: The art...
The first-generation children were strongly influenced by their immigrant parents' approach to choice. For them, choice was not just a way of defining and asserting their individuality, but a way to create community and harmony by deferring to the choices
Video examples
How to manage your time...
triggered a massive improvement in laptop battery life. This is because deferring interruptions lets a system check everything at once, then quickly re-enter a low-power state. As with computers, so it is with us. Perhaps adopting a similar approach
Video examples
How state budgets are...
They borrow money. They're not supposed to, but they figure out a way. They make you pay more in withholding just to help their cash flow out. They sell off the assets. They defer the payments. They sell off the revenues from tobacco.
Video examples
My 105 Days in Taliban...
And in my dream, everything came full circle. This past summer, I deferred one dream for another when I put medical school on hold, founded Human First Coalition, an organization dedicated to aiding Afghans in need.
Video examples
Pulling back the curtain...
in those bailouts the earlier bailouts they have structured it so that the interest payments are not falling due immediately in fact those are deferred and capitalized and there's not interest
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Ben Marcus
American Author
Mostly we're motivated to control ourselves in public. Mostly. At home the motivation is much less clear. At home there's a bit of a lab for bad behavior. You can test things out without terrible consequences. Or maybe the consequences are there, but they are deferred, buried, much harder to detect.
Quote examples
A. S. Byatt
English Novelist
We talk about feelings. And about sex. And about bodies, and their gratification, violation, repair, decoration, deferred, maybe permanently deferred, mortality. Feelings are a bodily thing, and respecting them is called, is, kindness.
Quote examples
Evan Bayh
American Politician
As Indiana's governor, I balanced eight budgets, never raised taxes, and left the largest surplus in state history. It wasn't always easy. Cuts had to be made and some initiatives deferred. Occasionally I had to say 'no.
Quote examples
Stephen Grellet
American Clergyman
I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Quote examples
Jacinda Ardern
New Zealander Politician
I'd say it was always in me - it's just what's required of you is very different in the moment that you become leader. When you're part of a team, you defer, and you're there to support your leader.
Quote examples
Max Muller
German Educator
How mankind defers from day to day the best it can do, and the most beautiful things it can enjoy, without thinking that every day may be the last one, and that lost time is lost eternity!
Quote examples
Zbigniew Brzezinski
American Politician
Sometimes in international politics, the better part of wisdom is to defer dangers rather than try to eliminate them altogether instantly.
Quote examples
Rachel Simmons
American Author
To defer to someone else's definition of a life well-lived is a Faustian bargain.
Quote examples
Patti Smith
American Musician
Throughout my life, I happily deferred to family, companions, children.
Quote examples
Brandon Ingram
American Athlete
It's important for me to be aggressive and not defer.
Quote examples
Ben Marcus
American Author
Mostly we're motivated to control ourselves in public. Mostly. At home the motivation is much less clear. At home there's a bit of a lab for bad behavior. You can test things out without terrible consequences. Or maybe the consequences are there, but they are deferred, buried, much harder to detect.
Quote examples
A. S. Byatt
English Novelist
We talk about feelings. And about sex. And about bodies, and their gratification, violation, repair, decoration, deferred, maybe permanently deferred, mortality. Feelings are a bodily thing, and respecting them is called, is, kindness.
Quote examples
Evan Bayh
American Politician
As Indiana's governor, I balanced eight budgets, never raised taxes, and left the largest surplus in state history. It wasn't always easy. Cuts had to be made and some initiatives deferred. Occasionally I had to say 'no.
Quote examples
Stephen Grellet
American Clergyman
I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Quote examples
Jacinda Ardern
New Zealander Politician
I'd say it was always in me - it's just what's required of you is very different in the moment that you become leader. When you're part of a team, you defer, and you're there to support your leader.
Quote examples
Max Muller
German Educator
How mankind defers from day to day the best it can do, and the most beautiful things it can enjoy, without thinking that every day may be the last one, and that lost time is lost eternity!
Quote examples
Zbigniew Brzezinski
American Politician
Sometimes in international politics, the better part of wisdom is to defer dangers rather than try to eliminate them altogether instantly.
Quote examples
Rachel Simmons
American Author
To defer to someone else's definition of a life well-lived is a Faustian bargain.
Quote examples
Patti Smith
American Musician
Throughout my life, I happily deferred to family, companions, children.
Quote examples
Brandon Ingram
American Athlete
It's important for me to be aggressive and not defer.
Example 1 of 10
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