Meanings
present singular third person postpones · participle present postponing · participle past postponed · past postponed
- To delay or put off an event, appointment, etc.
“[…] Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. Oh, dear, there's so much to tell you, so many warnings to give you, but all that must be postponed for the moment.”
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC1 more example
Significant rail projects have been mothballed before in the face of changed circumstances – in particular, the LNER Woodhead project which was postponed due to wartime conditions and not revived until 1948, as money became available after nationalisation.
2020 December 2, Industry Insider, “The costs on cutting carbon”, in Rail, page 76Synonyms: defer, delay, forestay, hold off, procrastinate, put off, put on ice, stay · Antonyms: advance, hasten, prepone, antedate, bring forward, expedite
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo delay or put off an event, appointment, etc.
More synonyms by meaning
verbhold back to a later time
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Ancient Greek ἀναβάλλω
- ἀναβάλλω (anabállō)to delay or put off an event
Arabic أَجَّلَ
- أَجَّلَ (ʔajjala)to delay or put off an event
Bulgarian отлагам, отсрочвам
- отлагам (otlagam)to delay or put off an event
- отсрочвам (otsročvam)to delay or put off an event
Catalan posposar, ajornar
- posposarto delay or put off an event
- ajornarto delay or put off an event
Chinese Mandarin 延緩 /延缓, 推遲 /推迟
- 延緩 /延缓 (yánhuǎn)to delay or put off an event
- 推遲 /推迟 (tuīchí)to delay or put off an event
Czech odložit, odročit
- odložitto delay or put off an event
- odročitto delay or put off an event
Danish udsætte, udskyde
- udsætteto delay or put off an event
- udskydeto delay or put off an event
Dutch uitstellen, verschuiven
- uitstellento delay or put off an event
- verschuivento delay or put off an event
- achterstellento delay or put off an event
- opschortento delay or put off an event
Esperanto prokrasti
- prokrastito delay or put off an event
Estonian edasi lükkama
- edasi lükkamato delay or put off an event
Finnish siirtää myöhemmäksi, lykätä
- siirtää myöhemmäksito delay or put off an event
- lykätäto delay or put off an event
- myöhäistääto delay or put off an event
French repousser, remettre
- repousserto delay or put off an event
- remettreto delay or put off an event
- reporterto delay or put off an event
- différerto delay or put off an event
- postposerto delay or put off an event
German verschieben, aufschieben
- verschiebento delay or put off an event
- aufschiebento delay or put off an event
- zurückstellento delay or put off an event
Greek αναβάλλω, ετεροχρονίζω
- αναβάλλω (anavállo)to delay or put off an event
- ετεροχρονίζω (eterochronízo)to delay or put off an event
Hebrew דחה
- דחה (dakhá)to delay or put off an event
Hindi टालना, स्थगन
- टालना (ṭālnā)to delay or put off an event
- स्थगन (sthagan)to delay or put off an event
Hungarian elhalaszt, elnapol
- elhalasztto delay or put off an event
- elnapolto delay or put off an event
- későbbre halasztto delay or put off an event
Icelandic fresta
- frestato delay or put off an event
Indonesian menunda
- menundato delay or put off an event
Italian rimandare
- rimandareto delay or put off an event
Japanese 延期する
- 延期する (enki suru)to delay or put off an event
Korean 연기하다
- 연기하다 (yeon'gi-hada)to delay or put off an event
Lithuanian atidėlioti
- atidėliotito delay or put off an event
Māori tinaku, whakatārewa
- tinakuto delay or put off an event
- whakatārewato delay or put off an event
- hikito delay or put off an event
- pāuhuto delay or put off an event
Norwegian Bokmål utsette, ajournere
- utsetteto delay or put off an event
- ajournereto delay or put off an event
Polish odroczyć, odraczać
- odroczyćto delay or put off an event
- odraczaćto delay or put off an event
- odłożyćto delay or put off an event
- odkładaćto delay or put off an event
- przełożyć (na inny termin)to delay or put off an event
Portuguese postergar, adiar
- postergarto delay or put off an event
- adiarto delay or put off an event
Romanian amâna
- amânato delay or put off an event
Russian откла́дывать, отложи́ть
- откла́дывать (otkládyvatʹ)to delay or put off an event
- отложи́ть (otložítʹ)to delay or put off an event
- отсро́чивать (otsróčivatʹ)to delay or put off an event
- отсро́чить (otsróčitʹ)to delay or put off an event
Spanish posponer, postponer
- posponerto delay or put off an event
- postponerto delay or put off an event
Swedish uppskjuta, senarelägga
- uppskjutato delay or put off an event
- senareläggato delay or put off an event
- skjuta uppto delay or put off an event
Thai เลื่อน
- เลื่อน (lʉ̂ʉan)to delay or put off an event
Turkish ertelemek
- ertelemekto delay or put off an event
Ukrainian відклада́ти, відкла́сти
- відклада́ти (vidkladáty)to delay or put off an event
- відкла́сти (vidklásty)to delay or put off an event
- відстро́чувати (vidstróčuvaty)to delay or put off an event
- відстро́чити (vidstróčyty)to delay or put off an event
- відтерміно́вувати (vidterminóvuvaty)to delay or put off an event
- відтермінува́ти (vidterminuváty)to delay or put off an event
Vietnamese hoãn
- hoãnto delay or put off an event
Welsh gohirio
- gohirioto delay or put off an event
Yiddish אָפּלייגן
- אָפּלייגן (opleygn)to delay or put off an event
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with postpone
Cite this entry
postpone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/postpone
“postpone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/postpone. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “postpone,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/postpone.
Source: postpone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.