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

Having degraded Iran’s nuclear program last year, he might have put off further action until past the midterms, if ever.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

Other enthusiasts are also not put off, and with the 82-year-old as my guide, I attempted to discover just how much further down the longevity rabbit hole a person could go.

From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026

But progress has been slowed by lower than anticipated demand, with many consumers put off by higher upfront costs and still patchy charging infrastructure.

From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026

Rasmussen says more research is needed to understand which specific noises would put off hedgehogs.

From BBC • Mar. 10, 2026

“Can you two put off the bickering until after we’re safe?”

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

Related Words

• adjourn
• postpone
• reschedule
• shelve
• suspend