adjourn

C1 Topic:Law & Government

US /əˈd͡ʒɝn/ UK /əˈdʒɜːn/ See IPA manual

Freq #21993

Meanings

1

verb
to suspend or end a meeting or official session, often until a stated later time

The chair will adjourn the meeting at six o'clock.
2

verb
to postpone a legal proceeding, decision, or other formal matter

The judge agreed to adjourn the trial for one week.
3

verb
to move to another place after a meeting or activity

After dinner, the guests adjourned to the library.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to suspend or end a meeting... recess suspend close

2 verb · to postpone a legal... postpone defer

3 verb · to move to another place... retire withdraw

Opposites

convene resume continue

Word family

Forms adjourned

Derived forms adjournmentadjournerreadjourn

Related forms recess deferprorogue

Etymology

From Middle English ajournen, from Old French ajorner 'appoint a day; postpone,' built on a jorn 'to a day.' Jorn comes from Latin diurnus 'daily,' from dies 'day.' The legal sense reflects assigning a matter to another day.

Topics

Law & Government

External links

# adjourn

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /əˈd͡ʒɝn/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈdʒɜːn/
**Frequency rank:** 21993

## Meanings
1. to suspend or end a meeting or official session, often until a stated later time
2. to postpone a legal proceeding, decision, or other formal matter
3. to move to another place after a meeting or activity

## Examples
- The chair will adjourn the meeting at six o'clock.
- The judge agreed to adjourn the trial for one week.
- After dinner, the guests adjourned to the library.

## Synonyms
- recess
- suspend
- postpone
- defer
- retire

## Antonyms
- convene
- resume
- continue

## Derived Forms
- adjournment
- adjourner
- readjourn

## Related Forms
- recess
- defer
- prorogue

## Etymology
From Middle English ajournen, from Old French ajorner 'appoint a day; postpone,' built on a jorn 'to a day.' Jorn comes from Latin diurnus 'daily,' from dies 'day.' The legal sense reflects assigning a matter to another day.

## Topics
- Law & Government

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