indefinite postponement
Shelved without deadline
Indefinite postponement is delay without a set end date—putting something off with no commitment to when, or whether, it will happen.
In legislative contexts, to move for indefinite postponement is a procedural tactic to kill a bill without a direct vote against it: The committee voted for indefinite postponement, effectively burying the proposal.
The phrase often signals that something has been shelved permanently while maintaining the fiction that it might someday resume.
- delayEnforced waiting period
- deferralAct of delaying action
- tablingDeferring formal discussion
- shelvingHorizontal storage surfaces
- put on iceDefer indefinitely
limbo · stalling · procrastination · backburner · holding pattern · stuck in neutral · freeze · moratorium · suspension · stagnation · bureaucracy · gridlock · filibuster · red tape · waiting game · cold storage · mothballed · gathering dust
indefinite, postponement, indefinitely, definite, definitely, definition, define, defined, defining