deferment
Americannoun
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.
Deferment is similar, but subsidized loans — which generally have slightly better terms — won’t accrue interest while they’re paused.
From New York Times • Aug. 24, 2022
Deferment is similar, but subsidized loans — which generally have slightly better terms — will not accrue interest while they are paused.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 26, 2021
Deferment prices have risen exponentially in recent years, so even the moderately well-off cannot escape.
From US News • Feb. 13, 2015
Deferment of our intellectual set weakens our national military, economic and political fiber.
From Time Magazine Archive
Deferment," said the painter, looking vaguely in front of himself for a while as if trying to find a perfectly appropriate explanation, "deferment consists of keeping proceedings permanently in their earliest stages.
From The Trial by Wyllie, David
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.
