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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 “He deferred to his parents’ wishes”) comes from the Latin verb dēferre, meaning “to bring down, convey, transfer, submit.”
to delay something until a later time; to postpone: You can order the furniture now and defer payment until September.
to delay something until a later time: defer action/a decision The committee decided to defer a decision on the takeover bid until a later date. defer tax / payment. defer doing sth The scheme enables investors to defer paying taxes on the gain.
Defer means to put off or delay. You can try to defer the inevitable by pushing “snooze” and falling back asleep, but eventually you're going to have to get up. If you're excellent at pushing things to a later date and a master at procrastination, then you already know how to defer.
defer (doing) something to delay something until a later time synonym put off. The department deferred the decision for six months. She had applied for deferred admission to college.
To defer is to decide to do something at a more convenient time in the future; it often suggests avoidance: to defer making a payment. delay is sometimes equivalent to defer, but it usu. suggests a hindrance or dilatory tactic: Completion of the work was deferred by bad weather.
If you defer an event or action, you arrange for it to happen at a later date, rather than immediately or at the previously planned time.
