Word of the Day:

“Amelie plans to defer college for a year to attempt a mostly solo thru-hike of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail.” — Justin Souza, Noozhawk (Santa Barbara, California), 24 Sept. 2026

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There are two distinct words spelled defer in English, each with its own history and meaning. The defer having to do with allowing someone else to decide or choose something, or with agreeing to follow someone else’s decision, tradition, etc., (as in “deferred to his parents’ wishes”) comes from the Latin dēferre, meaning “to bring down, convey, transfer, submit.” The defer meaning “to put off or delay” comes from a different Latin verb, differre, which itself has several meanings, including two that resound in its English descendant: “to postpone” and “to delay.” Another meaning of differre is “to be unlike or distinct,” which makes apparent another of its descendants: differ, meaning “to be different.”