adjournment

American

[uh-jurn-muhnt] / əˈdʒɜrn mənt /

noun

the act of adjourning or the state or period of being adjourned.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of adjournment

1635–45; < Anglo-French adjournement, Middle French. See adjourn, -ment

Explanation

When you end something or postpone it to a later time, that's an adjournment. When an initially friendly meeting becomes an angry shouting match, it might be time for an adjournment. Members at a company board meeting might request an adjournment for lunch, agreeing to reconvene in an hour. Court cases take similar adjournments, pausing for the weekend or holidays. The Supreme Court's regular schedule includes a summer-long adjournment that doesn't end until the first Monday in October, when a new session begins. The Old French source, ajornement, meant both "daybreak" and "summons to appear in court." Adjourn was initially used to mean "set a date to reconvene."

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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.

The most recent request for an adjournment of a scheduled status conference came in September.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026

Sir Mark said it was "extremely frustrating" that the delays had resulted in adjournment applications and "unnecessary complications".

From BBC • Oct. 24, 2025

Boasberg adjourned the hearing so Ensign could gather more information—and the government evidently exploited this adjournment to dispatch the two planes.

From Slate • Apr. 16, 2025

Granting an adjournment application by Mrs Donaldson's lawyer, Judge Paul Ramsey said he will review the situation on 16 May.

From BBC • Mar. 14, 2025

He then showed the Russian all of the variations he’d worked out during the adjournment.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023