put off

verb

put off; putting off; puts off

transitive verb

1

a

: disconcert

b

: repel

2

a

: to hold back to a later time

b

: to induce to wait

put the bill collector off

3

: to rid oneself of : take off

4

: to sell or pass fraudulently

Synonyms

• postpone
• delay
• put over
• defer

Examples of put off in a Sentence

never put off until tomorrow what you can do today

put off your coat and stay awhile

Recent Examples on the Web

Equipment upgrades are put off. —Jim Vinoski, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025

Similarly, white Americans are nearly four times as likely to skip or delay vaccinating their children compared to Asian Americans, with 19 percent and 5 percent, respectively, forgoing or putting off inoculating their kids, according to the poll. —Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, The Hill, 15 Sep. 2025

When bourbon slumped in the 1980s, many distilleries put off repairs to their stills, which caused plenty of problems. —Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 12 Sep. 2025

Speedrunners have also found some arcane sequence skips to get around certain bosses or methods for putting off some boss fights until later than the developers intended. —ArsTechnica, 11 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for put off

• ashraf
• checkoff
• cutoff
• falloff
• handoff
• kickoff
• layoff
• liftoff
• markoff
• markov
• payoff
• playoff

Kids Definition

put off

verb

1

: to cause negative feelings in

your sloppy appearance put them off

2

: to hold back to a later time : defer

put off my visit to the dentist

3

: to rid oneself of

put off your coat