deferred
UK/dɪˈfɜːd//dɪˈfɝd/
deferred is the simple past and past participle of defer.
Adjective
deferred (comparative more deferred, superlative most deferred)
- Delayed; put off till later.
- requested a deferred payment
- In retrospect, it was small wonder that Railtrack found its finances under pressure, as with ever increasing demand there was an inevitable effect on infrastructure renewals. Matters came to a head with the Hatfield accident on October 17 2000, when there was a high-speed derailment as a result of...2024 January 10, 'Industry Insider', “Success built on liberalisation and market freedom”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 69
- Yielded to someone else's decision or judgment.
- The decision was deferred to the regional manager
- Whose value is not realized until a future date: e.g. annuities, charges, taxes, and income, either as an asset or liability.
Noun
deferred (plural deferreds)
- Synonym of promise (“object representing delayed result”).
- Synonyms:
- promise
- A deferred bond.
- Now you can take the papers back. And let it be a warning to you, Parkinson, not to invest your savings in speculative railway deferreds.1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados
- Only some Eurobonds are Euro straights with normal fixed coupons: many have innovative coupon structures, like zeros, deferreds, or step-ups; many are dual-currency (coupon and principal currencies are not the same); […]2005, Robert Dubil, An Arbitrage Guide to Financial Markets, page 88
Meaning of defer
Verb (1)
defer (third-person singular simple present defers, present participle deferring, simple past and past participle deferred)
- To delay or postpone.
- We're going to defer the decision until we have all the facts.
- After winning the opening coin toss, to postpone until the start of the second half a team's choice of whether to kick off or receive (and to allow the opposing team to make this choice at the start of the first half).
- To delay, to wait.
- God […] will not long defer / To vindicate the glory of his name1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 34, lines...
Verb (2)
defer (third-person singular simple present defers, present participle deferring, simple past and past participle deferred)
- To submit to the opinion or desire of others in respect to their judgment or authority.
- Hereupon the commissioners […] deferred the matter to the Earl of Northumberland.1622, Francis Bacon, History of the Reign of King Henry VII
- Synonyms:
- submit
- To render, to offer.
- worship deferred to the Virgin1872, Daniel Brevint, Saul and Samuel at Endor
Synonyms of deferred
Forms of deferred
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more deferred |
| superlative | most deferred |
| Noun | |
| plural | deferreds |
Words formed from deferred
Phrases with deferred
Questions about deferred
- What does deferred mean?
- Deferred means delayed; put off till later.
- What is deferred the simple past and past participle of?
- Deferred is the simple past and past participle of defer.
- What part of speech is deferred?
- Deferred can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce deferred?
- Deferred is pronounced /dɪˈfɜːd/ (UK).
Words near deferred in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deferred (page history and authors); defer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
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