to put off
—| C1 (advanced) |—
In North American English, this word typically means:
PHRASAL VERB:
to choose to do something later, due to procrastination or laziness
to make someone feel uncomfortable, due to something offensive, disgusting, or scary
EXAMPLES:
“Honestly, I hated school. The pressure of studying for an exam so that you do not fail–which if you did would set you back in not only your education but also career–was just too much for me. So, I usually put off studying as long as I could. I’m not saying that I recommend what I did–because cramming is also super stressful–but it is what I ended up doing in university.”
“Cancel culture is the toxic phenomenon of society rejecting a certain person for the mistakes that they may or may not have made. It is assuming the worst about said individual, based on accusations that put off the majority in a particular community (e.g. company, industry, city, country, world, etc.).”
ASSOCIATED WORDS:
Some synonyms for “to put off” include:
Definition 1
VERB:
to postpone (formal; nuance: done out of necessity instead of procrastination or laziness)
to reschedule (formal; no nuance indicating why something is being done later)
to delay (standard; nuance: done out of necessity instead of procrastination or laziness)
PHRASAL VERB:
to hold off [on + something] (nuance: indicates that something is less important than something else, which is why it is done later)
IDIOM:
to put on the back burner (nuance: indicates that something is less important than something else, which is why it is done later)
to put a pin in + something (nuance: indicates that something is less important than something else, which is why it is done later)
to shelve (nuance: indicates that something is less important than something else, which is why it is done later)
Definition 2
VERB:
to concern (polite)
COLLOCATION:
to make someone feel awkward (informal)
to make someone [feel] uncomfortable (standard)
Some words related to “to put off” include:
Definition 2
ADJECTIVE:
off putting (after a noun; hyphenate when this adjective is before a noun)
COLLOCATION:
to be put off
to feel put off
Have you ever put something off? What was it? What about something that put you off? Let me know in the comments below.