adjourn

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitive or intransitive

   To pause a meeting, court case, or formal session for a time, planning to continue it later.

   Grammar: Can take an object (adjourn the meeting) or stand alone (The court adjourned at noon).

   Patterns

   • adjourn a meeting
   • adjourn the court
   • adjourn for lunch
   • adjourn until Monday

   The judge adjourned the trial until the following morning.

   The committee adjourned for lunch and returned at two o'clock.

   Parliament adjourned for the summer recess.

2. 2verbintransitiveformalhumorous

   To move to another place, often for a drink or social activity after a formal event.

   Grammar: No object; often followed by to or at: We adjourned to the pub.

   Patterns

   • adjourn to a place
   • adjourn to the pub
   • adjourn somewhere for coffee

   After the lecture, we adjourned to a nearby café.

   The group adjourned to the garden to continue chatting.

Word forms

Common combinations

adjourn a meeting

The chair decided to adjourn the meeting early.

adjourn the court

The judge will adjourn the court for the day.

adjourn for lunch

We usually adjourn for lunch at twelve thirty.

adjourn until tomorrow

The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow morning.

adjourn to the pub

After the ceremony, everyone adjourned to the pub.

Synonyms and how they differ

suspend

More general and often suggests a longer or indefinite stop; adjourn implies a planned later continuation.

recess

Used more for official bodies taking a break; recess is also a noun, while adjourn is mainly a verb.

postpone

Focuses on moving an event to a later time, not on stopping a meeting that is already in progress.

Opposites

Word family

adjournment noun

The act of stopping a meeting or the period of such a break.

Commonly confused: adjourn or adjoin?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “adjourn”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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