put off

British  

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to postpone or delay

   they have put off the dance until tomorrow

2. (tr, adverb) to evade (a person) by postponement or delay

   they tried to put him off, but he came anyway

3. (tr, adverb) to confuse; disconcert

   he was put off by her appearance

4. (tr, preposition) to cause to lose interest in or enjoyment of

   the accident put him off driving

5. (intr, adverb) nautical to be launched off from shore or from a ship

   we put off in the lifeboat towards the ship

6. archaic (tr, adverb) to remove (clothes)

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noun

1. a pretext or delay

put off Idioms  

1. Delay or postpone, as in He always puts off paying his bills. This idiom, dating from the late 1300s, gave rise to the proverb Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today, first recorded in the late 1300s (in Chaucer's Tale of Melibee) and repeated ever since. Also see put one off.

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Example Sentences

Like many chefs, he bemoans National Insurance rises and increasing business rates, but also more local problems like limited car parking and unclean streets, which put off diners.

From BBC

SpaceX has put off a mission to Mars planned for this year, shifting its focus to a long-promised lunar voyage for NASA.

From The Wall Street Journal

He says the market for the flats has collapsed, in part because future buyers are put off by the scale of the standing charges.

From BBC

Not being put off by the setback, she stayed at the venue and ended up being filmed, taking her chance to urge the singer to call her.

From BBC

Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month but was reportedly put off the move by the competition for places at centre-back in the Blues' bloated squad.

From Barron's

Related Words

• adjourn
• postpone
• reschedule
• shelve
• suspend