as in postponed
to assign to a later time
we held off on accepting the invitation in the hopes that something better would come along
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for held off (on)
Verb
-
After hearing testimony from about 40 witnesses, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on the bill so the sponsors could work on amendments.—
Shaun Boyd,
CBS News,
10 Feb. 2026 -
Delayed until 2024, the third iteration, curated by John Tain, saw its opening temporarily postponed by political protests in the city.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Votes in the House were delayed from Tuesday afternoon to the evening as leadership sought to convince nearly half a dozen GOP holdouts to vote for the measure.—
Rachel Schilke,
The Washington Examiner,
11 Feb. 2026
-
So with official jobs data due out on Wednesday, delayed by several days because of the brief partial government shutdown, analysts say stocks could go even lower on bad news — or even on news that looks too good.—
John Towfighi,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Gaza names the moment when the mandate of the oppositional intellectual can no longer be deferred, aestheticized, or selectively applied.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Half of it will be deferred until age 45 or 20 years after their first Olympic appearance, whichever comes later.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
4 Feb. 2026
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.
Cite this Entry
“Held off (on).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/held%20off%20%28on%29. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
