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I always thought that the opposite of postpone is prepone(also remember my english teacher telling me this). Today I realised that the word prepone does not exist in the dictionary. So is it used informally or does it exist?

m0bi5
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  • http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/808/is-prepone-being-used-outside-india – Phil M Jones Apr 15 '15 at 12:23
  • What do you mean, "does not exist in the dictionary"? What is "the dictionary"? I can name two dozen off the top of my head. Of which at least seven do have the word. – RegDwigнt Apr 15 '15 at 12:24
  • @Reg: OED does at least include the caveat In later use, most frequent in Indian English. – FumbleFingers Apr 15 '15 at 12:36
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    "Prepone" would only get you dumb looks in most of the US. – Hot Licks Apr 15 '15 at 13:10
  • @Hot Licks: "Dumb looks" as in I must be dumb - I've no idea what you mean by that, or I know what you mean, but you must be dumb for using such a "non-word"? I'd probably have been in the latter category until discovering that the word is actually common in IE, but I think the meaning should normally be obvious from context even if you suppose the speaker just made it up on the spot. – FumbleFingers Apr 15 '15 at 13:50
  • @FumbleFingers - "Dumb look" as in "Are you speaking French or what?" – Hot Licks Apr 15 '15 at 18:08

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