defer
v.v. to delay something until a later time, or to let someone else decide because you respect their opinion.
v. to postpone an action or event to a future date; alternatively, to submit to another's authority or judgment out of respect.
The committee decided to defer the vote until next month.
I will defer to my manager's expertise on this technical matter since she has more experience.
While the board initially wanted to proceed, they chose to defer the final decision until the environmental impact report was fully vetted by independent consultants.
Originally a variant of (and hence a doublet of) differ; from Middle English differren (“to postpone”), from Old French differer, from Latin differō. Doublet of differ and dilate. See also infer, collate and confer, delate and defer, relate and refer as well as prelate and prefer among others.
From late Middle English differren (“to refer for judgement”), from Middle French déférer, from Latin dēferō. Doublet of delate. See also infer, collate and confer, relate and refer, as well as prelate and prefer among others.
When meaning to submit to someone, it is intransitive and takes the preposition 'to'. When meaning to postpone, it is transitive and takes a direct object.
I defer my decision to next weekI deferred my decision until next weekWhen meaning to postpone, 'defer' is often confused with 'delay'; it typically implies a formal or deliberate choice to wait.