Word of the Day

: April 11, 2018

defer

verb dih-FER

What It Means

1 : put off, delay

2 : to postpone induction of (a person) into military service

defer in Context

"She made suggestions including deferring the decision again, as well as opening the opportunity for more applicants to be considered…." — Kelly Fisher, The Tennessean, 17 Jan. 2018

"He said funds are needed now, in large part, because deferring the maintenance will increase repair costs in the future." — Anthony Warren, The Northside Sun (Jackson, Mississippi), 23 Mar. 2017

Did You Know?

There are two words spelled defer in English. The other defer, which means "to delegate to another for determination or decision" or "to submit to another's wishes or opinion" (as in "I defer to your superior expertise"), is derived from the Latin verb deferre, meaning "to bring down." The defer we're featuring today is derived from Latin differre, which itself has several meanings including "to postpone" and "to differ." Not surprisingly, differre is also the source of our word differ, meaning "to be different."