postponement
Americannoun
-
the act of putting something off to a later time; deferral.
Taking your sick or injured pet to the veterinarian should be prompt, as any postponement can lead to ongoing medical issues.
-
the act of placing a thing below something else in importance or after something else in sequence (now used most often in grammar).
Historically, inheritance laws tended toward a postponement of the claims of female kin to those of male kin.
In English, the end position in a sentence is normally reserved for the key point, so postponement of an element is a way of emphasizing it.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of postponement
Explanation
When you delay something until a later time or date, that's a postponement. If a trial lawyer doesn't have all the information she needs, she may ask the judge for a postponement until the following week. A postponement can also be called a deferral or a stay, and it means rescheduling something for later. You can request a postponement of your chemistry test, but there's no guarantee you'll get it. When a baseball game or tennis match gets rained out, the teams agree on a postponement, starting over at the earliest opportunity. Postponement has a Latin root, postponere, "put after, neglect, or postpone."
Vocabulary lists containing postponement
"The Moustache" and "Who We Really Are"
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This Week in Pop Culture: March 30 - April 5, 2019
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ment
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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.
Postponement of childbearing, or not having children at all, may be fueling the rise, said Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society.
From New York Times • May 9, 2023
Postponement is uncommon for the league, despite injuries.
From Slate • Jan. 3, 2023
Postponement of Justin Bieber’s concert, planned for Thursday, comes days after the Justice World Tour’s Sunday show in Las Vegas met the same fate.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2022
Postponement notices for non-emergency appointments are already going out to patients.
From Washington Post • May 11, 2022
Postponement was therefore had till July 1st, a committee meantime being appointed to draft a declaration.
From History of the United States, Volume 2 by Andrews, Elisha Benjamin
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.
