Adjournment

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A temporary pause or break in a meeting or court session usually to be resumed later
2. The act of halting a formal gathering or judicial process for a period before continuation
3. A brief interruption or postponement of official business or legal procedure until a later time

Etymology: Adjournment comes from the Old French "ajornement", a formation from the verb "ajourner", meaning "to postpone". That verb is built from "a-" (to) and "jour" (day), so at its root it means something like "put off to another day." The English word "adjourn" arrived in Middle English, and "adjournment" followed as the noun formed by adding the suffix "-ment", which turns a verb into a noun for an act or process. The Old French verb carries the same daily-time sense that its English descendant still keeps: a court or assembly that adjourns does not dissolve but sets its business aside until a later day. The word is a close relative of "aggiornamento", an Italian term meaning "bringing up to date", which entered English from Italian in the twentieth century. Both descend from the same Latin word for day, "diurnum", through the Old French and Italian forms of "jour" and "giorno", though they have diverged so far in sense that few speakers would notice the kinship.

Synonyms: suspension, break, recess

Antonyms: continuation, proceeding