1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

held off (on)

verb

past tense of hold off (on)
as in postponed
to assign to a later time we held off on accepting the invitation in the hopes that something better would come along

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for held off (on)
  1. postponed
  2. delayed
  3. deferred
Verb
  • The 31st annual mid-autumn festival in Philadelphia’s Chinatown has been postponed to next Saturday.
    — Rebekah Riess, CNN Money, 26 Sep. 2026
  • The company postponed interest payments starting in 2025, signaling structural financial issues.
    — Joshua Ceballos, Miami Herald, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of postponed
Verb
  • Combined, the three had 14 space exploration missions that were proposed to be canceled or delayed, the report stated.
    — Eric Niiler, Scientific American, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Two companies in the AI ecosystem have delayed their IPOs, the latest sign that investor appetite for the trade is uneven at best.
    — Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of delayed
Verb
  • Some of your salary can be deferred and taxed when assets are withdrawn.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 25 Sep. 2026
  • On Tuesday, Riley deferred a question about Mosley’s return timetable to the availability report.
    — Sean Campbell, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of deferred
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

held off
held off (on)
held on
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Held off (on).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/held%20off%20%28on%29. Accessed 30 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of epistemic

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of the words cracker fly and sale arranged in a triangle with the word fire in the middle
Triple Play Quiz Find the word that pairs with each of the three g...
See All