postpone
verbUK /pəʊstˈpəʊn/ · CA, US /poʊstˈpoʊn/
Etymology From Latin postpōnō (“to put after; to postpone”) from post (“after”) + pōnō (“to put; to place”), compare forestall.
1
To delay or put off an event, appointment, etc.
- “[…] Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. Oh, dear, there's so much to tell you, so many warnings to give you, but all that must be postponed for the moment.”1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- Significant rail projects have been mothballed before in the face of changed circumstances – in particular, the LNER Woodhead project which was postponed due to wartime conditions and not revived until 1948, as money became available after nationalisation.2020 December 2, Industry Insider, “The costs on cutting carbon”, in Rail, page 76:
2
Obsolete To place after in order; to deem less important.
- Why should the See of Antioch, that most ancient and truly Apostolical Church, where the Christian name began […] be postponed to Alexandria?1687, Isaac Barrow, A Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy, 3rd edition, page 161:
- Antonyms
- advance, bring forward, prepone
- Derived terms
- postponable, repostpone
- Related terms
- postponement, postponence, postponer
- Coordinate terms
- adjourn