Word
postpone
Phoneticspost·pone
US/poʊˈspoʊn/
UK/pəʊstpˈəʊn/
Definitions
01to delay an event
v. to change the time of something so that it happens later than planned.
v. to delay or put off a scheduled event, appointment, or action until a later time.
“The school decided to postpone the sports day because of the heavy rain.”
“The board of directors voted to postpone the annual general meeting until the independent audit was fully completed and verified.”
Usage
This verb is transitive and requires a direct object, often a noun phrase or a gerund.
Pitfall
We postponed to have the meeting.
We postponed having the meeting.
When followed by another verb, use the -ing form, not the infinitive.
Antonyms
02to treat as less important
v. to put something in a lower position or treat it as less important than something else.
v. to place after in order of importance or to deem secondary to another consideration.
“In the old text, the author chose to postpone his own needs to those of the king.”
“The philosopher argued that one must never postpone the search for truth to the pursuit of material wealth.”
Archaic
Teaching tip
This sense is extremely rare in modern English; students will almost exclusively encounter the 'delay' meaning.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Real-World Examples
“While NHS England said 95% of operations and appointments were due to go ahead, thousands have been postponed.” “It said 569 outpatient appointments had been postponed as well as 114 day cases.” Etymology
From Latin postpōnō (“I put after; I postpone”) from post (“after”) + pōnō (“I put; I place”), compare forestall.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/postpone