postpone

postpone — verb

1. to move an arranged activity, meeting, or trip to a future time instead of doing

1.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

to move an arranged activity, meeting, or trip to a future time instead of doing it now

Example

The school postponed sports day because the field was still flooded.

postpone + event noun

After the doctor called, Mina postponed her trip until next month.

postpone + noun + until + time

Common collocations
  • postpone a meeting
  • postpone a trip
  • postpone the wedding
  • postpone buying a car
  • postpone until next month
Synonyms
  • delay

    is the broadest choice and can also describe something happening more slowly than expected

  • defer

    is more formal and is common for decisions, payments, or official actions

  • put off

    is more informal and is especially common in speech

  • reschedule

    usually suggests fixing a new time, not simply moving something later

Antonyms
  • bring forward

    means move an event to an earlier time and is especially common in British English

  • move up

    is a common everyday way to say something happens earlier

  • advance

    is a more formal verb for changing something to an earlier date or time

Grammar Patterns

postpone a meeting

postpone doing something

be postponed until Friday

Usage Note

Common with meetings, trips, weddings, and other planned events. Also takes an -ing form for activities, as in 'postpone buying a car' or 'postpone meeting a client'.

Common Mistakes

We postponed to meet the client.
We postponed meeting the client.' / 'We postponed the meeting with the client.
postpone is followed by a noun or an -ing form, not a to-infinitive.
We cancelled the game until Friday.
We postponed the game until Friday.
cancel means it will not happen; postpone means it is moved to a later time.

Word family

  • postponement
    nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

For verb/1, postpone means deciding that a planned event or action should happen later. Delay is the broadest near-synonym and can describe either a deliberate choice or a slow process. Defer is more formal and often appears in official contexts, such as deferring a decision, payment, or course entry. Put off is informal and common in speech; it can also suggest avoidance when someone keeps not doing something. Reschedule is narrower, because it usually implies setting a new date or time. You can postpone a picnic because of rain, defer a ruling until Friday, put off cleaning the kitchen, or reschedule a doctor's appointment for next Tuesday.

delay ↗deferput off ↗reschedule

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • briefly postpone
  • indefinitely postpone

Phrases

  • postpone until next week
  • postpone because of bad weather

Prepositions

  • postpone until

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Postpone comes from Latin postponere, which literally meant 'put after'. It is built from post, meaning 'after', and ponere, meaning 'to put or place'. In English, the word came to mean moving something planned so it happens later.