The meaning of “put off” in different contexts

Like many phrasal verbs, ‘put off’ can be used in several ways, depending on the context of the sentence. But most commonly, ‘put off’ means to delay.

In the following sentence, put off means delaying a task because Josh is unwilling to do it.

Josh is known for being a procrastinator because he always puts off doing work until the last minute.

Another way to use put off is to describe a person’s behavior that may be troubling or cause discomfort to others. We use it in a sentence like this: 

Picking your nose in public is a sure way to put people off. 

In other words, picking your nose in public is very off-putting, so don’t do it!