The word 'deferred' is the past particle of the word defer. The word 'defer' has its origin in Middle English and is taken from the word 'differren'. Differren means to postpone. To defer means to postpone. For example: 'the decision had been deferred by the committee until next month'. Here, the sentence explains that the committee postponed the meeting until next month. It stopped further discussions.

There could be another meaning for deferred. For example: they all deferred to him in financial matters. This means the people referred here respected the person's judgment and agreed to his opinions in unison. Another example: they deferred questions of this kind to the president. This explains, the people referred submitted something to their president for his opinions. Some words that are synonymous to deferred are: adjourned, assessed, charged, delayed, funded, held up, in waiting, indebted, negotiated, postponed, prolonged, protracted, remanded, staved off, retarded and temporized.