delay the departure

Meaning

To postpone the time at which a plane, train, bus, or person leaves. This is often used in travel contexts due to bad weather, technical issues, or unexpected traffic. It implies that the start of the journey is pushed to a later time.

Examples

• Heavy snow forced the airline to delay the departure of our flight by three hours.

  Heavy snow forced the airline to delay the departure of our flight by three hours.

• We had to delay the departure of our road trip because I forgot my passport.

  We had to delay the departure of our road trip because I forgot my passport.

• The captain decided to delay the departure until the storm passed safely.

  The captain decided to delay the departure until the storm passed safely.

• If we delay the departure any longer, we will miss our connecting train in Paris.

  If we delay the departure any longer, we will miss our connecting train in Paris.

• They had to delay the departure of the cruise ship due to a mechanical issue.

  They had to delay the departure of the cruise ship due to a mechanical issue.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ The weather delayed the depart.

  ✓ The weather delayed the departure.

  'Depart' is a verb. The noun 'departure' must be used after the verb 'delay'.

• ✗ We had to delay our departure time of the train.

  ✓ We had to delay the departure of the train.

  'Delay the departure of [something]' is the standard collocation. Adding 'time' is redundant here.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Because of the heavy traffic, we decided to ___ of our delivery truck.

  💡 Postpone when the vehicle leaves.

  Show answer

  delay the departure

• The airport had to ___ of all international flights during the thick fog.

  💡 Make the planes leave later than planned.

  Show answer

  delay the departure