Definition of: postpone

(pōst·pōn′) v.t. ·poned, ·pon·ing
1. To put off to a future time; defer; delay.
2. To subordinate. [<L postponere <post- after + ponere put]
—post·pon′a·ble adjective
—post·pone′ment noun
—post·pon′er noun Synonyms: adjourn, defer, delay, procrastinate. Adjourn signifies literally to put off to another day, and, hence, to any future time. A deliberative assembly may adjourn to another day or to another hour of the same day, and resume business, where it left off, as if there had been no interval; or it may adjourn to a definite later date or, when no day can be fixed, to meet at the call of the president or other officer. In common usage, to adjourn a matter is to hold it in abeyance until it may be more conveniently or suitably attended to; in such use defer and postpone are close synonyms of adjourn; defer is simply to lay or put aside temporarily; to postpone is strictly to lay or put aside until after something else occurs, or is done, known, obtained, or the like; but postpone is often used without such limitation. Adjourn, defer, and postpone all imply definite expectation of later consideration or action; delay is much less definite, while procrastinate is hopelessly vague. One who procrastinates gives no assurance that he will ever act. Compare HINDER, PROCRASTINATE. Antonyms: act, complete, consummate, dispatch, do, expedite, hasten, hurry, quicken.