hold off (on)

as in to postpone
to assign to a later time we held off on accepting the invitation in the hopes that something better would come along

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hold off (on)
Verb
  • She’s now been forced to postpone more shows and cancel outright festival appearances in Mexico and California.
    Matthew Strauss, Pitchfork, 5 Apr. 2025
  • The prospect of continued rain Saturday morning was enough to lead to organizers of the Bentonville Half Marathon to postpone the event, which was originally scheduled for 7 a.m. Saturday.
    NWA Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online, 4 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Arkansas established a school scoring record for a three-game series, averaging 17 runs in the seven-inning games — the first via run rule on Saturday, the next two on Sunday shortened after weather delayed the series — against the Tigers, who averaged three runs per game.
    Tom Murphy, Arkansas Online, 8 Apr. 2025
  • China’s chief antitrust regulator is currently reviewing the BlackRock-Hutchison deal, effectively delaying the transaction before it was expected to be signed on April 2.
    Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 8 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the carrier will defer deliveries of new aircraft if they are hit with tariffs.
    Dan Mangan,Kevin Breuninger,Jeff Cox,Christina Wilkie,Erin Doherty,Ruxandra Iordache, CNBC, 9 Apr. 2025
  • Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers is massively deferred, lowering its present value to $460.8 million, according to Major League Baseball’s calculations.
    Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Lynch could return to challenge or put over someone for the U.S. title.
    Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025
  • Because his drug was a gene therapy, public grant money and private philanthropy played an especially central role, with the National Institutes of Health alone putting over $450 million into science related to SMA.
    Robin Fields, CNN, 17 Feb. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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“Hold off (on).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hold%20off%20%28on%29. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.

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