verb to put off or delay an action or event until a later time
In the military, 'defer' may refer to a delay in deployment or assignment to a specific duty.
In legal contexts, 'defer' may be used to describe a decision to postpone or delay a court case or legal action.
In finance, 'defer' is often used to refer to the act of delaying payment of a debt or obligation to a future date.
In tech fields, 'defer' is commonly used in programming languages to delay the execution of a function or process.
In education, 'defer' can be used to indicate a student's decision to postpone enrollment or take a gap year before starting college.
In a professional writing context, 'defer' may be used to indicate the act of postponing or delaying a decision, action, or task to a later time.
Psychologists may use 'defer' when discussing the concept of deferred gratification, which refers to the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward in order to receive a larger or more enduring reward later on.
Financial analysts may use 'defer' when referring to deferred tax assets or liabilities, which are tax consequences that are recognized in financial statements but will be realized or settled in future periods.
Project managers may use 'defer' when discussing the practice of deferring certain project tasks or decisions to a later stage in order to focus on more critical or time-sensitive activities.