postponepost‧pone /pəʊsˈpəʊn $ poʊsˈpoʊn/ ●●○ verb [transitive] 
The match had to be postponed until next week.postpone doing something They’ve decided to postpone having a family for a while. His trial has been postponed indefinitely (=no one knows when it will happen).► see thesaurus at cancel, delay—postponement noun [countable, uncountable]THESAURUSpostpone verb [transitive] to change the date or time of a planned event or action to a later one: · The game was postponed because of heavy snow.· We had to postpone the trip because of my father’s illness.· The trial has been postponed until November.put something off phrasal verb [transitive] to decide to do something later than you planned to do it or later than you should do it, especially because there is a problem or because you do not want to do it now: · I really should go to the dentist, but I keep putting it off.· The concert’s been put off till next week.· The committee decided to put off making any decision until the new year.delay verb [transitive] to not do something until something else has happened or until a more suitable time: · He decided to delay his departure until after he’d seen the Director.· Police delayed making any announcement until the girl’s relatives had been contacted.procrastinate verb [intransitive] formal to delay doing something that you ought to do, usually because you do not want to do it – used especially to show disapproval: · Kerry procrastinated for as long as possible before firing anyone.· He had been procrastinating over starting the work.be pushed/moved/put back if an event is pushed back, someone arranges for it to be held at a later time or date than originally planned: · Their meeting has been put back to next Thursday.· The museum’s opening date was pushed back so that safety checks could be carried out.· The game on April 1 has been moved back to April 5.shelve verb [transitive] to decide not to continue with a plan, project etc now although it may be considered again at some time in the future: · Plans for a new stadium have been shelved for now.· The city shelved the project due to lack of funding.put something on ice/put something on the back burner to decide not to continue with a plan, project etc until a later time. These expressions are rather informal and are often used in business English: · The project has had to be put on ice due to lack of funding.· Blears called for the discussions to be put on ice until after the elections.· The plan seems to have been put on the back burner.
WORD ORIGINpostpone
Origin:
1400-1500 Latin postponere, from ponere; ➔ POSITION1VERB TABLE
postpone
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | postpone |
| he, she, it | postpones | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | postponed |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have postponed |
| he, she, it | has postponed | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had postponed |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will postpone |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have postponed |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am postponing |
| he, she, it | is postponing | |
| you, we, they | are postponing | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was postponing |
| you, we, they | were postponing | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been postponing |
| he, she, it | has been postponing | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been postponing |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be postponing |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been postponing |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- In 1968, the Oscar ceremony was postponed for two days, following the assassination of Martin Luther King.
- Several of today's football games have been postponed because of heavy snow.
- They decided to postpone the wedding until Pam's mother was out of the hospital.
- And they postponed it until this Thursday.
- Even Beate postponed going out to join the group of older girls in the camp.
- I figured you might postpone it.
- It denies that its proposed purchase of GiroBank necessarily postpones the conversion plans.
- Lawmakers initially had been scheduled to vote on the bill Friday, but postponed the balloting for lack of sufficient votes.
- Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has twice postponed hearings on the nomination and expressed strong reservations about it.
- The freeing of oil prices was postponed until June from the target date of April 1.
- The proposed launch of the green paper last week was postponed on the orders of Downing Street.
THESAURUS
verb [transitive] to change the date or time of a planned event or action to a later one: · The game was postponed because of heavy snow.· We had to postpone the trip because of my father’s illness.· The trial has been postponed until November.
phrasal verb [transitive] to decide to do something later than you planned to do it or later than you should do it, especially because there is a problem or because you do not want to do it now: · I really should go to the dentist, but I keep putting it off.· The concert’s been put off till next week.· The committee decided to put off making any decision until the new year.
verb [transitive] to not do something until something else has happened or until a more suitable time: · He decided to delay his departure until after he’d seen the Director.· Police delayed making any announcement until the girl’s relatives had been contacted.
verb [intransitive] formal to delay doing something that you ought to do, usually because you do not want to do it – used especially to show disapproval: · Kerry procrastinated for as long as possible before firing anyone.· He had been procrastinating over starting the work.
if an event is pushed back, someone arranges for it to be held at a later time or date than originally planned: · Their meeting has been put back to next Thursday.· The museum’s opening date was pushed back so that safety checks could be carried out.· The game on April 1 has been moved back to April 5.
verb [transitive] to decide not to continue with a plan, project etc now although it may be considered again at some time in the future: · Plans for a new stadium have been shelved for now.· The city shelved the project due to lack of funding.
to decide not to continue with a plan, project etc until a later time. These expressions are rather informal and are often used in business English: · The project has had to be put on ice due to lack of funding.· Blears called for the discussions to be put on ice until after the elections.· The plan seems to have been put on the back burner.
Longman Language Activatorto arrange to do something at a later time to change the time when something was planned to happen, and arrange for it to happen later: · Several of today's football games have been postponed because of heavy snow.postpone something until/till something: · They decided to postpone the wedding until Pam's mother was out of the hospital.postpone something for two days/three weeks etc: · In 1968, the Oscar ceremony was postponed for two days, following the assassination of Martin Luther King.
to decide to do something later than you planned to do it or should do it, for example because there is a problem or because you do not want to do it now: put something off/put off something: · I really should go to the dentist, but I keep putting it off.put something off until/till something: · The concert's been put off till next week.put off doing something: · The committee decided to put off making any decision until the new year.
to not do something until something else has happened or until a more suitable time: delay something until something: · He decided to delay his departure until after he'd seen the Director.delay doing something: · The police delayed making any announcement until the girl's relatives had been contacted.
if an event is pushed back , someone arranges for it to be held at a later time or date than originally planned: be pushed/moved/put back to: · The meeting has been put back to next Thursday.
to decide to do or deal with something at a later time, especially because there is a problem or because you have more important things to deal with immediately: · We're going to have to put our plans on ice until we can raise some more money.· I've put my acting career on the back burner for a while, while I concentrate on my writing.
to delay doing something that you ought to do, usually because you do not want to do it - used especially to show disapproval: · He hesitated and procrastinated for weeks before he finally told her he wanted their relationship to end.procrastinate about/over: · Certain players are procrastinating over their contracts in order to see how much money they can squeeze out of their clubs.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY The match had to be postponed until next week. His trial has been postponed indefinitely (=no one knows when it will happen).COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
to change the date or time of a planned event or action to a later one SYN put back OPP bring forward: The match had to be postponed until next week. His trial has been postponed indefinitely (=no one knows when it will happen). (=not make a decision until later)· The government has postponed its decision about when to hold the election.
(=arrange for it to happen at a later time)· Our first match was postponed because of bad weather.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· Such a blueprint could not help but postpone indefinitely important questions facing the integrative bodies already in existence.· A referendum to determine the future of the island has been postponed indefinitely.· Now it seemed as if they were postponed indefinitely.· However, the trial has been postponed indefinitely.· On Dec. 13 Landsbergis had announced that a further round of preliminary consultations had been postponed indefinitely by the Soviet side.· No doubt this explains why elections there have been postponed indefinitely.
NOUN· Interfax reported on May 13 that the health unions would postpone strike action until Aug. 1.· Politicians can exploit a laborious sequence of reiterated doubts to postpone action even in those areas of which they are quite certain.· We can not afford to postpone necessary actions, however difficult, in the future.
· Against Gorbachev's wishes a vote on the issue had to be postponed until the following day.· Action was postponed until another day.· The opening night of the Folies had been postponed for two days.· After considerable procrastination, they eventually settle on equivocal courses of action that serve only to postpone the long-dreaded day of judgment.· The temperature then was 41 after the game was postponed the previous day because of freezing rain and snow.
· Further decisions are evidently being postponed until an answer has been received from Rome.· We can stay much as we are, in the same old muddle, with difficult decisions postponed.· The ruling executive wanted a decision postponed to assess a review of benefits and taxation.
· Tripoli postponed the elections until February.· The election commission might postpone the election until these questions are clarified.· But perhaps the changes were better postponed until after the election.· The growth of criticism of Rhee led to speculation that he might seek to postpone the elections scheduled for May 1950.
· An outcry from dentists around the country this week forced the Government to postpone their decision on the payments until May 1.· The overwhelming caseload has made the government reluctant to postpone trials, even though virtually all of the suspects lack defense attorneys.· It was expected that some of the larger projects approved by the Gandhi government would be postponed.
· Ershad's trial had been scheduled to open on Feb. 16, but was postponed for a month on a technicality.· The budget is due now, but it has been postponed for three months.
· It denies that its proposed purchase of GiroBank necessarily postpones the conversion plans.· Connections had postponed running plans for the previously unbeaten Tenby until they had established the cause of his failure.· But a quarter still expect to cut jobs, and 48 percent have postponed investment plans.
· The overwhelming caseload has made the government reluctant to postpone trials, even though virtually all of the suspects lack defense attorneys.
· Until now he had postponed thinking about the visit.· But he had not guessed he would be and had postponed his visit till term ended in June.
· This latest meeting was then postponed until next week, by which time Ferguson will be on holiday.· We're postponing things for a week.
· The legislation was postponed for nearly a year.· The law took these steps but unexpectedly postponed them to the year 2000.· Today he announced his decision ... that men can be admitted ... but ordered that the move be postponed for two years.
VERB· But under pressure to get Rohr on better financial footing, he agreed to postpone the project.· They've agreed to postpone development of a rubbish dump for at least 10 years.· However, it agreed to postpone until 1994 the negotiation of a new agreement between tropical timber producers and consumers.
· Alternating child-care responsibility is a far cry from asking a woman to postpone her career to raise her children.· Without counsel, Val was forced to cancel a due process hearing, asking it be postponed until she could get representation.· McGee had asked the commission to postpone the appointment until after its ruling.
· Judge Mallet wisely decided to postpone his ruling until September 13 in order to give himself time to deliberate on the matter.· He decided to postpone his meditations and take up the subject again later.· I decided I would postpone hostilities for a while.· He decided to postpone thinking about it.· It was decided to postpone the survey until the autumn term.
The match had to be postponed until next week.postpone doing something They’ve decided to postpone having a family for a while. His trial has been postponed indefinitely (=no one knows when it will happen).► see thesaurus at cancel, delay—postponement noun [countable, uncountable]THESAURUSpostpone verb [transitive] to change the date or time of a planned event or action to a later one: · The game was postponed because of heavy snow.· We had to postpone the trip because of my father’s illness.· The trial has been postponed until November.put something off phrasal verb [transitive] to decide to do something later than you planned to do it or later than you should do it, especially because there is a problem or because you do not want to do it now: · I really should go to the dentist, but I keep putting it off.· The concert’s been put off till next week.· The committee decided to put off making any decision until the new year.delay verb [transitive] to not do something until something else has happened or until a more suitable time: · He decided to delay his departure until after he’d seen the Director.· Police delayed making any announcement until the girl’s relatives had been contacted.procrastinate verb [intransitive] formal to delay doing something that you ought to do, usually because you do not want to do it – used especially to show disapproval: · Kerry procrastinated for as long as possible before firing anyone.· He had been procrastinating over starting the work.be pushed/moved/put back if an event is pushed back, someone arranges for it to be held at a later time or date than originally planned: · Their meeting has been put back to next Thursday.· The museum’s opening date was pushed back so that safety checks could be carried out.· The game on April 1 has been moved back to April 5.shelve verb [transitive] to decide not to continue with a plan, project etc now although it may be considered again at some time in the future: · Plans for a new stadium have been shelved for now.· The city shelved the project due to lack of funding.put something on ice/put something on the back burner to decide not to continue with a plan, project etc until a later time. These expressions are rather informal and are often used in business English: · The project has had to be put on ice due to lack of funding.· Blears called for the discussions to be put on ice until after the elections.· The plan seems to have been put on the back burner.