deferment
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of deferment
Explanation
A deferment delays something until a future time. If you want to wait a few years before paying off a loan, you need to ask for a deferment. Deferment is an official word for "I'll do that later!" College students who owe a lot of money can apply for deferments that give them more time to pay back their loans. Students accepted to colleges can sometimes get a deferment that allows them to do something else first (like serve in the military), and then attend the college later. This is usually used in formal contexts — good luck getting a deferment for your chores.
Vocabulary lists containing deferment
The Things They Carried
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Memorial Day: Words of Respect and Remembrance
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Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In refinancing, your husband would lose a raft of federal protections and flexible deferment and forbearance options.
From MarketWatch ● May 15, 2026
The federal check now in deferment limbo was supposed to reimburse the state for the federal government’s share of that spending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
It’s the reason so many student-loan borrowers find themselves trapped in cycles of deferment, forbearance or minimum payments that allow balances to balloon rather than shrink.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2025
But because borrowers with federal loans can choose from forbearance, deferment or income-driven repayment, it’s that much more challenging to prove undue hardship.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2025
Wernecke knew firsthand because he had received a draft deferment for a physical disability.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
More than half of those interest deferments were agreed to after the loan was originated, according to Lincoln.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
He obtained a string of deferments, first so that he could finish his college course and then when his new wife, Lynne became pregnant.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2025
With a Direct Subsidized Loan, the federal government pays the interest while the student is enrolled at least half-time, then during the six-month grace period after leaving school and during any approved deferments.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2025
After graduating high school from the New York Military Academy in 1964, he received four education deferments to attend college.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2024
One year, they say, during the Vietnam War, Morrie gave all his male students A’s to help them keep their student deferments.
From "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
