postponed

1. 1
   adjective

   Carried out or scheduled at a later time than originally planned; delayed.

   The postponed conference has been rescheduled for early fall.

   Investors grew anxious about the postponed product launch.

   Similardelayed, deferred

   Note

   A participle that has settled in front of the noun: a postponed launch, the postponed conference. After be it is hard to tell from the passive verb, since the match was postponed reads either way. Before a noun, only the adjective fits. It can even be graded as more postponed or most postponed, though something put off once is usually just postponed.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of postpone.

   The committee postponed its decision until the next meeting.

   Heavy rain postponed the championship match for two days.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs, as with any regular verb. It is the past tense (the club postponed the match) and also the past participle. As a participle it pairs with have for the perfect (they have postponed it) and with be for the passive (the match was postponed). Older English also used the verb for ranking something lower, so a postponed duty was one deemed less important. That meaning is now obsolete.

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