de·ferred

[dih-furd]
adjective
1.
postponed or delayed.
2.
suspended or withheld for or until a certain time or event: a deferred payment; deferred taxes.
3.
classified as temporarily exempt from induction into military service.

Origin:
1645–55; defer1 + -ed2

un·de·ferred, adjective
well-de·ferred, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged

de·fer

1 [dih-fur] verb, de·ferred, de·fer·ring.
verb (used with object)
1.
to put off (action, consideration, etc.) to a future time: The decision has been deferred by the board until next week.
2.
to exempt temporarily from induction into military service.
verb (used without object)
3.
to put off action; delay.

Origin:
1325–75; Middle English deferren, variant of differren to differ

de·fer·rer, noun


1. Defer, delay, postpone imply keeping something from occurring until a future time. To defer is to decide to do something later on: to defer making a payment. To delay is sometimes equivalent to defer but usually it is to act in a dilatory manner and thus lay something aside: to delay one's departure. To postpone a thing is to put it off to (usually) some particular time in the future, with the intention of beginning or resuming it then: to postpone an election. 3. procrastinate.
00:10
Deferred is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

de·fer

2 [dih-fur] verb, de·ferred, de·fer·ring.
verb (used without object)
1.
to yield respectfully in judgment or opinion (usually followed by to ): We all defer to him in these matters.
verb (used with object)
2.
to submit for decision; refer: We defer questions of this kind to the president.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English deferren < Latin dēferre to carry from or down, report, accuse, equivalent to dē- de- + ferre to bear1


1. accede, submit, acquiesce, capitulate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To deferred
Collins
World English Dictionary
defer1 (dɪˈfɜː) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
vb , -fers, -ferring, -ferred
(tr) to delay or cause to be delayed until a future time; postpone
 
[C14: from Old French differer to be different, postpone; see differ]
 
de'ferrable1
 
adj
 
de'ferable1
 
adj
 
de'ferrer1
 
n

defer2 (dɪˈfɜː) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
vb (foll by to) , -fers, -ferring, -ferred
to yield (to) or comply (with) the wishes or judgments of another: I defer to your superior knowledge
 
[C15: from Latin dēferre, literally: to bear down, from de- + ferre to bear]

deferred (dɪˈfɜːd) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
1.  withheld over a certain period; postponed: a deferred payment
2.  (of shares) ranking behind other types of shares for dividend

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

defer
"delay," late 14c., from O.Fr. differer, from L. differre "set apart, put off, delay," also "be different, differ," from dis- "apart" + ferre "carry" (see infer). Etymologically identical with differ; the spelling and pronunciation differentiated from 15c., partly by association
of this word with delay.

defer
"yield," late 15c., from M.Fr. deferer, from L. deferre "carry away, transfer, grant;" modern sense is from meaning "refer (a matter) to someone," from de- "down, away" + ferre "carry" (see infer).

deferred
"delayed," 1660s, pp. adj. from defer (1).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Example sentences
The federal government deferred blame to local regulators.
Purchases for deferred viewing will be much lower volume.
To make up for the difference, they awarded him more than $4-million in deferred compensation in 2008.
Worthless advice from senior scholars to whom the author prudently deferred
  should be labeled as such.
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT