Library / English Dictionary

PUT OFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)

Example:

he evaded the questions skillfully

Synonyms:

circumvent; dodge; duck; elude; evade; fudge; hedge; parry; put off; sidestep; skirt

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "put off" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "put off"):

beg (dodge, avoid answering, or take for granted)

quibble (evade the truth of a point or question by raising irrelevant objections)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to feel embarrassment

Example:

The constant attention of the young man confused her

Synonyms:

confuse; disconcert; flurry; put off

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "put off" is one way to...):

abash; embarrass (cause to be embarrassed; cause to feel self-conscious)

Verb group:

bedevil; befuddle; confound; confuse; discombobulate; fox; fuddle; throw (be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "put off"):

fluster (cause to be nervous or upset)

bother (make confused or perplexed or puzzled)

deflect; distract (draw someone's attention away from something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will put off him

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to feel intense dislike or distaste

Synonyms:

put off; turn off

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "put off" is one way to...):

repel; repulse (be repellent to; cause aversion in)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to put off Sue

Sense 4

Meaning:

Take away the enthusiasm of

Synonyms:

dishearten; put off

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "put off" is one way to...):

discourage (deprive of courage or hope; take away hope from; cause to feel discouraged)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to put off Sue

Sense 5

Meaning:

Hold back to a later time

Example:

let's postpone the exam

Synonyms:

defer; hold over; postpone; prorogue; put off; put over; remit; set back; shelve; table

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "put off" is one way to...):

delay (act later than planned, scheduled, or required)

"Put off" entails doing...:

reschedule (assign a new time and place for an event)

call off; cancel; scratch; scrub (postpone indefinitely or annul something that was scheduled)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "put off"):

call (stop or postpone because of adverse conditions, such as bad weather)

hold (stop dealing with)

suspend (render temporarily ineffective)

probate (put a convicted person on probation by suspending his sentence)

reprieve; respite (postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal, such as an execution)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

putoff (a pretext for delay or inaction)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Time during which some action is awaited; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time; the state of being slower or later.

(Delay, NCI Thesaurus)

“Am I to be put off with words? I say to you again, how of the clams and scallops?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The evil day was put off.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

If they would only put off their scheme till Tuesday, which they might easily do, as it depended only on themselves, she could go with them, and everybody might then be satisfied.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

"It shall not be put off when we are so near it. You cannot go to town till tomorrow, Brandon, that is all."

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

You might have to delay a vacation or put off buying something expensive for now, but this is temporary, and eventually, you can put that wish back on your list.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I dared to put off the mendicant—to resume my natural manner and character.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I hired a boat directly, and we put off to her; and getting through the little vortex of confusion of which she was the centre, went on board.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

No, sir, she is not one-and-thirty; but I do not think I can put off my engagement, because it is the only evening for some time which will at once suit her and myself.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

For although few men will avow their desires of being immortal, upon such hard conditions, yet in the two kingdoms before mentioned, of Balnibarbi and Japan, he observed that every man desired to put off death some time longer, let it approach ever so late: and he rarely heard of any man who died willingly, except he were incited by the extremity of grief or torture.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)