Put off means to delay something until a later time, or to make someone lose interest in something. The first meaning is about meetings, trips and tasks you don't feel like starting. The second is about a reaction to something unpleasant: a smell, a price, a rude tone.
Want to use put off in conversation?
Write a sentence — we'll show the mistakes right away and suggest how to say it more naturally.
The check is taking longer than usual. Your feedback will appear here automatically.
put off + noun/-ing; put something off until + time; put someone off + noun/-ing
- I kept putting off my dentist appointment until the pain got too bad.
- The concert was put off until June because the singer lost her voice.
- The long queue at the entrance put me off visiting the museum.
What changed
First versionWe put off to book the tickets until the last minute.
RevisionWe put off booking the tickets until the last minute.
After put off, a verb takes the -ing form, not to + verb: put off booking, not put off to book. Only the verb form has changed; the rest of the sentence stays the same.
In the second meaning, the cause comes before put off and the person comes after it. The smell put me off my dinner means the smell made you lose your appetite. The price put me off buying the course: the price made you decide not to buy it. If the sentence mentions a new date or time limit, the meaning is almost certainly the first one, postpone.
Your turn
We ___ the team meeting until Monday because half of us were at a conference.
Show the answer
put off — Until Monday gives a new date: the meeting will still happen, just later, and that is put off. Called off means cancelled, and a cancelled meeting doesn't get a new date.
Write about something you keep putting off. Name the task and say until when you have put it off.
I've put off cleaning the balcony until the weekend because it's been raining all week.
Learn to use new words without mistakes
Write phrases with the words you are learning. LetsWords shows mistakes in usage and grammar, suggests corrections and explains them, and review helps the words stick.