de ‧ fer /dɪˈfɜː $ -ˈfɜːr/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle deferred , present participle deferring ) [transitive]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: French ; Origin: différer , from Latin differre 'to delay, be different' . defer to 1400-1500 French déférer , from Late Latin deferre 'to bring down' ]
to delay something until a later date SYN put back
defer something until/to something
Further discussion on the proposal will be deferred until April.
The committee deferred their decision.
—deferment noun [uncountable and countable]
—deferral noun [uncountable and countable]
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THESAURUS
▪ delay to wait until a later time to do something:
He decided to delay his decision until he had seen the full report.
▪ postpone to change an event to a later time or date:
The meeting was postponed.
▪ put off to delay doing something. Put off is less formal than delay or postpone , and is the usual phrase to use in everyday English:
I used to put off making difficult decisions.
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The game has been put off till next week.
▪ hold off to delay doing something, especially while you are waiting for more information or for something else to happen:
House buyers seem to be holding off until interest rates drop.
▪ defer formal to delay doing something until a later date, usually because something else needs to happen first:
The decision had been deferred until after a meeting of the directors.
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She decided to defer her university application for a year so that she could go travelling.
▪ procrastinate /prəˈkræstəneɪt, prəˈkræstɪneɪt/ formal to delay doing something that you ought to do:
Don’t procrastinate – make a start on your assignments as soon as you get them.
defer to somebody/something phrasal verb formal
to agree to accept someone’s opinion or decision because you have respect for that person:
I will defer to your wishes.