adjournment
Americannoun
-
adjournments
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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."
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:
Mr Justice Rooney said the adjournment will allow the inquest to "get it right" for Noah's mother Fiona and all interested parties at the hearing.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
The most recent request for an adjournment of a scheduled status conference came in September.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026
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
However, the musician's lawyers suggested they might request a two-week adjournment, saying that prosecutors had yet to hand over some 200,000 emails relating to one of Combs' alleged victims.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2025
After a brief adjournment, the magistrate decided that the cage would be pulled down; in the meantime, the front of it was removed.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
There is no evidence at this time that there is any relationship between the two adjournments.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 5, 2023
They regularly suggested “the lack of a quorum,” requiring a roll call of senators and in some cases even forcing adjournments when a quorum wasn’t present.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 12, 2022
Still, prosecutors were determined to try again, though it took almost two and a half years of adjournments and delays to reach a third trial in May 2015.
From New York Times ● Jul. 31, 2016
The majority received adjournments in contemplation of dismissal, meaning that the charges would be dropped if they stayed out of trouble for six months.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 11, 2015
Bobby had two adjournments to play and analyze by himself.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
