詞彙精選：postpone的用法和辨析

一、詳細釋義：

v.

使延期；延遲；遲緩 [I,T]

例句：

Could we postpone our meeting to sometime early next week?

我們能否將約會推遲到下星期的頭幾天？

例句：

Let's postpone making a decision until we have more information.

咱們在獲取更多情況之後再做決定不遲。

【語】把…放在後面（或句尾） [T]

例句：

Everyone should postpone private gain to the public welfare.

我們應該把個人利益置於公衆福利之後。

（瘧疾等）延緩發作（或復發） [I]

二、詞義辨析：

delay,postpone,defer,suspend,prolong,put off

這些動詞或短語動詞均有“推延，延期”之意。delay普通用詞，多指因外界原因推遲或耽誤，也可指有意推遲。postpone正式用詞，語氣較強，多指有安排的延期，常指明延期到一定的時間。 defer正式用詞，語氣強於postpone，多指故意拖延。suspend指暫時中斷以待某種條件的實現。prolong指把時間延長至超過正常或通常的限度。put off口語用詞，與postpone同義，但較通俗。

三、參考例句：

I think we should postpone the outing.

我認爲我們應該推遲這次郊遊。

Can we postpone the meeting till tomorrow?

我們可以把會議延期到明天嗎?

It won' t hurt to postpone the meeting.

不妨把開會時間往後延。

The weather being bad, we had to postpone our trip.

因爲天氣不好，我們不得不延期出行。

Everyone should postpone private gain to the public welfare.

我們應該把個人利益置於公衆福利之後。

I no longer want to postpone anything in life.

我不想再把任何事延後。

We have to postpone sending our answer to the request.

我們不得不暫緩寄出對申請書的答覆。

Could we postpone our meeting to sometime early next week?

我們能否將約會推遲到下星期的頭幾天？

He decided to postpone the expedition until the following day.

他決定把探險推遲到第二天。

They will postpone their program if it rains.

如果下雨，他們就會延期項目。