Refer vs. Defer

By Jaxson

  • Refer (verb)

    To direct the attention of.

    “The shop assistant referred me to the help desk on ground floor.”

  • Refer (verb)

    To submit to (another person or group) for consideration; to send or direct elsewhere.

    “He referred the matter to the principal.”

    “to refer a patient to a psychiatrist”

  • Refer (verb)

    To place in or under by a mental or rational process; to assign to, as a class, a cause, source, a motive, reason, or ground of explanation.

    “He referred the phenomena to electrical disturbances.”

  • Refer (verb)

    To allude to, make a reference or allusion to.

    “To explain the problem, the teacher referred to an example in another textbook.”

  • Refer (verb)

    To be referential to another element in a sentence.

  • Refer (verb)

    To address a specific location in computer memory.

  • Refer (verb)

    Required to resit an examination.

    “Smith’s marks in the finals were unsatisfactory and he was referred.”

  • Defer (verb)

    To delay or postpone; especially to postpone induction into military service.

  • Defer (verb)

    After winning the opening coin toss, to postpone until the start of the second half a team’s choice of whether to kick off or receive (and to allow the opposing team to make this choice at the start of the first half).

  • Defer (verb)

    To delay, to wait.

  • Defer (verb)

    To submit to the opinion or desire of another in respect to their judgment or authority.

  • Defer (verb)

    To render, to offer.

Wiktionary
  • Defer (verb)

    put off (an action or event) to a later time; postpone

    “they deferred the decision until February”

  • Defer (verb)

    (of a judge) postpone (a sentence) so that the circumstances or conduct of the defendant can be further assessed

    “the judge deferred sentence until 5 April for background reports”

  • Defer (verb)

    postpone the conscription of (someone)

    “he was no longer deferred from the draft”

  • Defer (verb)

    submit to or acknowledge the merit of

    “he deferred to Tim’s superior knowledge”

Oxford Dictionary

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