deferir

A formal, mostly legal/administrative verb meaning to defer a decision or matter to another authority out of respect (deferir un caso a otra instancia, deferir al criterio de alguien). It's easily confused with the similarly spelled but unrelated diferir, which means to differ or to postpone.

• El juez deferió el caso a un tribunal superior. — The judge deferred the case to a higher court.
• Prefiero deferir esta decisión al comité. — I prefer to defer this decision to the committee.
• Por respeto, deferimos al criterio del experto. — Out of respect, we defer to the expert's judgment.

Don't confuse deferir (to defer to an authority) with diferir (to differ, or to postpone) — they're spelled almost identically but mean different things, and mixing them up changes the meaning of a sentence.

Often confused with diferir.