postpone or delay?

[crunchy]

Does anyone have any ideas about the difference between "postpone" and "delay"? Please tell me,thanks

 

[ErOtto]

Just have a look at this

http://www.wordreference.com/definition/postpone

and this

http://www.wordreference.com/definition/delay

Re
Er

 

[crunchy]

I have, but they all means "pull off until the later time", there's no difference.

 

[Hausa]

Delay requires some waiting. You can postpone a meeting to a later date but that does not mean the meeting is waiting for something. For example: you have a meeting at first hour in the morning in you decide to postpone it to make sure everyone makes it on time. It does not mean you are waiting, as all members could be there on time.

Delay means there is some waiting. For instance, a plane is delayed because the weather conditions are not good. So there's a waiting until conditions are good for the take off.

Postponing can have a meaning of re-scheduling while delay is sort of waiting.

 

[crunchy]

Thank you, Hausa. I get the point now

 

[natasha_139]

As the title indicates, please tell me what's the difference between delay and postpone. Let's say, our flight is delayed. our meeting is postponed until 4 p.m.. Are these two words interchangeable?
Thanks~

<< This thread has been merged with an earlier discussion of the same topic.
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[><FISH'>]

Delay is more casual and means something is going to be late, but without a reference to the new time.

Postpone is more formal and usually means something has been rescheduled to a later time.