English → Latin
“defer” in Latin
differōto carry different ways, spread, scatter, disperse, separate; to distract, disquiet or disturb someone; confound; to sprprōferōto bring out, bring forth; to make known, produce in public, publish, reveal; to appear, show oneselfcōnferōto bring or collect together, gather; unite, join, connect; to bring or place together or near, set in opposition, opposprōcrāstinōto put off until tomorrow; to defer, delay, procrastinateprōdūcōto lead or bring forth, forward or out; to conduct to; bring before, present; to draw or stretch out, lengthen, extendprōlātōto lengthen, extend, enlarge; to prolongprōtrūdōto thrust or push forwards; to protrude
The English word defer itself goes back to Latin ferō, through differō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
defer
To put off to another time, differre; proferre; conferre (with the distinction, that by differre the time of putting off may either be fixed or not; whereas proferre and conferre, for which transferre seldom stands, intimate that the time of putting off is fixed): procrastinare; differre et procrastinare (to put off to the following day, especially in a dilatory manner): producere: prolatare (e.g., comitia; diem): rejicere in or ad (with accusative; to put off what should be done now; also reservare): protrudere (to thrust off; e.g., comitia in mensem Januarium): to defer from one day to another, diem ex die ducere or prolatare; anything from day to day, rem in dies proferre ac procrastinare (Cic.): to defer the payment of a debt, solutionem nominis sustinere (Cic.): to defer it to another time, in aliud tempus differre, proferre or rejicere; to the next day, aliquid differre in crastinum; aliquid in posterum diem conferre: to defer for some days, aliquot dies proferre or promovere; a wedding, prodere nuptiis aliquot dies (Terentianus): to defer passing sentence on a person accused (till the third day after his trial, or later), comperendinare reum: to defer the sentence (in order to afford the accused ampler means of defence), ampliare reum.
To defer to or pay deference to, alicui obsequi or morigerari; alicui or alicujus voluntati morem gerere: alicui obtemperare.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for defer?
- The usual Latin words for “defer” are differō, prōferō, cōnferō; also prōcrāstinō, prōdūcō, prōlātō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.