From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpostponepost‧pone /pəʊsˈpəʊn $ poʊsˈpoʊn/ ●●○ verb [transitive] POSTPONE/DO LATERto change the date or time of a planned event or action to a later one SYN put back OPP bring forward The match had to be postponed until next week.postpone doing something They’ve decided to postpone having a family for a while. His trial has been postponed indefinitely (=no one knows when it will happen).► see thesaurus at cancel, delay —postponement noun [countable, uncountable]THESAURUSpostpone verb [transitive] to change the date or time of a planned event or action to a later oneThe game was postponed because of heavy snow.We had to postpone the trip because of my father’s illness.The trial has been postponed until November.put something off phrasal verb [transitive] to decide to do something later than you planned to do it or later than you should do it, especially because there is a problem or because you do not want to do it nowI really should go to the dentist, but I keep putting it off.The concert’s been put off till next week.The committee decided to put off making any decision until the new year.delay verb [transitive] to not do something until something else has happened or until a more suitable timeHe decided to delay his departure until after he’d seen the Director.Police delayed making any announcement until the girl’s relatives had been contacted.procrastinate verb [intransitive] formal to delay doing something that you ought to do, usually because you do not want to do it – used especially to show disapprovalKerry procrastinated for as long as possible before firing anyone.He had been procrastinating over starting the work.be pushed/moved/put back if an event is pushed back, someone arranges for it to be held at a later time or date than originally plannedTheir meeting has been put back to next Thursday.The museum’s opening date was pushed back so that safety checks could be carried out.The game on April 1 has been moved back to April 5.shelve verb [transitive] to decide not to continue with a plan, project etc now although it may be considered again at some time in the futurePlans for a new stadium have been shelved for now.The city shelved the project due to lack of funding.put something on ice/put something on the back burner to decide not to continue with a plan, project etc until a later time. These expressions are rather informal and are often used in business EnglishThe project has had to be put on ice due to lack of funding.Blears called for the discussions to be put on ice until after the elections.The plan seems to have been put on the back burner. → See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
postpone• Several of today's football games have been postponed because of heavy snow.• In 1968, the Oscar ceremony was postponed for two days, following the assassination of Martin Luther King.• Even Beate postponed going out to join the group of older girls in the camp.• Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has twice postponed hearings on the nomination and expressed strong reservations about it.• And they postponed it until this Thursday.• I figured you might postpone it.• The proposed launch of the green paper last week was postponed on the orders of Downing Street.• Lawmakers initially had been scheduled to vote on the bill Friday, but postponed the balloting for lack of sufficient votes.• It denies that its proposed purchase of GiroBank necessarily postpones the conversion plans.• They decided to postpone the wedding until Pam's mother was out of the hospital.• The freeing of oil prices was postponed until June from the target date of April 1.postponed indefinitely• A referendum to determine the future of the island has been postponed indefinitely.• However, the trial has been postponed indefinitely.• No doubt this explains why elections there have been postponed indefinitely.• Now it seemed as if they were postponed indefinitely.• On Dec. 13 Landsbergis had announced that a further round of preliminary consultations had been postponed indefinitely by the Soviet side.From Longman Business Dictionarypostponepost‧pone /pəæʊstˈpəʊnpoʊsˈpoʊn/ verb [transitive] to change the date or time of a planned event to a later oneThe meeting has been postponed until next Tuesday.→ See Verb tableOrigin postpone (1400-1500) Latin postponere, from ponere; → POSITION1 