ENGLISH
REFERENCE

deferral

n. countable
C1 Advanced US //dɪˈfɝəɫ// UK //dɪfˈɜːɹəl// de·fer·ral

n. The act of officially delaying something to a later time. When you get a deferral, it means you don't have to do something now, but you will have to do it later.

n. The action of postponing or delaying something, or an instance of this. It is the nominalization of the verb 'defer'.


SIMPLE

She requested a deferral of her university admission.

CONTEXTUAL

Due to a family emergency, he applied for a deferral of his student loan payments for six months.

COMPLEX

The board approved a deferral of the capital gains tax, allowing the company to reinvest the funds into expansion projects rather than immediately settling its liability with the state.

Synonyms
Origin

From defer + -al, formed in English with a doubled r to keep the pronunciation of defer clear, early 19th century.

Usage

Often followed by the preposition 'of' to specify what is being postponed (e.g., 'a deferral of payment').

Pitfall

She got a defer on her loan.She got a deferral on her loan.'Defer' is the verb; the correct noun form for the act of postponing is 'deferral'.

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