student asking question

Can I use "postpone" instead of "delay" here?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

These words actually have different meanings. When something has been "postponed," it means that it has been pushed back or rescheduled for another time in the future. Meanwhile, to be "delayed" means that something wasn't able to start on time/started late due to a conflict, condition, or situation. So while they are somewhat related in idea, they are used differently. Ex: Let's postpone our meeting to next Wednesday. Ex: The concert was delayed for 10 minutes.

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