Both Uses
defer
in
Flags of Our Fathers
(Edited)
- millions of returning servicemen plunged into the dreams they had deferred
Chpt 17. *deferred = postponed (put off until the future)
- I must defer to my father. He was there.
Chpt 20. *defer = submit or yield to another's opinion
Definitions:
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(1)
(defer as in: deferred the decision) delay or postpone (hold off until a later time)
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(2)
(defer as in: deferred to her wishes) submit or yield (typically to another person's opinion because of respect for that person or their knowledge)
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) More rarely, defer can be used to indicate showing respect or deference; as when Dickens wrote in Bleak House: "They know him there and defer to him."