What does defer mean?
"Defer" is a formal English verb carrying two related-by-spelling but historically distinct senses. Its older and perhaps most familiar sense means to postpone or delay: a court may defer sentencing, a company may defer payment, and a student may defer entry to university for a year. The second sense means to yield courteously to another's judgement or authority, as when an employee defers to a senior colleague on a technical matter; this sense almost always appears with the preposition "to". Both uses carry a tone of restraint and formality, making "defer" at home in legal, business, and diplomatic writing. The noun forms include "deferral" (a postponement) and "deference" (respectful submission), and the adjective "deferrable" describes something that can legitimately wait. Learners should take care not to confuse it with the near-identical sounding "differ", which means to be unlike or to disagree. Mastering "defer" allows precise, polished expression of both delay and humility.
To postpone or delay an action, event, or decision until a later time.
"The judge chose to defer sentencing pending a psychiatric report."
Takes a direct object; commonly used in legal and business contexts. The noun form for this sense is "deferral".
To submit politely to another person's opinion, judgement, or authority.
"He deferred to his mentor's experience on the question of strategy."
Almost always followed by the preposition "to". Related noun: "deference".
English has two different verbs spelled "defer" with two different Latin ancestors — one means to put things off, and the other means to put yourself second.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of defer
The two senses of "defer" come from two different Latin verbs. The postponement sense derives from Latin "differre", meaning to carry apart or scatter, which also gave English "differ" and "difference". The yielding sense comes from Latin "deferre", to carry away or bring down, the same root behind "deference" and, more distantly, words like "transfer" and "confer". Both verbs entered English in the late Middle English period, and their identical spelling has persisted ever since despite their separate origins.
Related word forms
How defer is actually used
"Defer" is formal to neutral in register, common in business, legal, and academic contexts. The postponement sense takes a direct object (defer a decision), while the yielding sense normally takes "to" before the person or thing yielded to (defer to someone). In the past tense both senses share the form "deferred", but careful writers keep the meanings distinct by context.
Easily confused with defer
"Differ" means to be unlike or disagree, while "defer" means either to postpone something or to yield to someone else — the two are near-homophones but unrelated in meaning.