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I was aware of this and this stackexchange post discuss the same. There is no prepone in English. Ok, then how do I say Our meeting is preponed in correct way? What is the correct word/phrase for prepone?

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Great observation — it is strange that this word hasn't spread into common use. – Kosmonaut Aug 31 '10 at 18:36
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Just use "prepone" whenever the rest of the context makes the meaning clear; it's a great word and we can make it eventually catch on. ;-) – ShreevatsaR Aug 31 '10 at 19:21
I usually do not use the word outside of India, or if i have colleagues who are not Indian in the meeting. So most of the time i use 'rescheduled or postponed'. But preponed is a good word it should get added into English dictionaries. – user20012 Apr 12 '12 at 9:33

4 Answers

up vote 16 down vote accepted

Our meeting has been brought forward.

Our meeting has been rescheduled for an earlier time.

I wouldn't worry too much. English is my first language and I liked the word when I first heard it.

Unlike other apparent malapropisms (or eggcorns) this word is succinct, clear in meaning, and it fills a hole.

Unless I've misunderestimated the question?

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I'd prefer "rescheduled" over "brought forward". I occasionally find spatial metaphors for time somewhat confusing ("brought forward" = earlier, "going forward" = in future, "advanced" = brought earlier, but "advanced a pawn" = pushed it further away), and I may not be alone. – ShreevatsaR Aug 31 '10 at 19:23
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you used one of my favorite words: "misunderestimated" – warren Aug 31 '10 at 20:25
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@ShreevatsaR - you are definitely not alone. I find "move up a meeting by an hour" very confusing. Perhaps the spatial metaphor is an Americanism? – Sripathi Krishnan Jan 10 '11 at 20:10
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Can we use the phrase "The meeting has been advanced". I heard a person using this instead of "prepone" – Manish Sinha Sep 28 '11 at 20:52
up vote 13 down vote

Just on a whim I checked the dictionary, and it turns out that prepone is in the dictionary! I might personally still avoid it just because many people might be confused by it (or at least take a moment to parse it), but technically it is a perfectly cromulent word.

I then checked the OED and found that this word was coined in 1913. Here is the quote, which comes from the New York Times:

For the benefit mainly of the legal profession in this age of hurry and bustle may I be permitted to coin the word ‘prepone’ as a needed rival of that much revered and oft-invoked standby, ‘postpone’.

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The Corpus of Contemporary American English reports prepone just once, in the sentence In India, people created the word "prepone" as the obvious opposite of postpone. – kiamlaluno Aug 31 '10 at 19:00
Still, it doesn't seem to be in most (or at least many) dictionaries yet (I just checked NOAD, New Webster's, and an English-Finnish dictionary by WSOY). But I guess it'll make its way into more and more, as most people (including myself) seem to like it. :) – Jonik Aug 31 '10 at 19:07
Yes, I agree with you on that, Jonik. And since it has been floating around in the fringes for about a hundred years and hasn't really taken hold, who knows if it ever will. – Kosmonaut Aug 31 '10 at 19:23
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+1 for using cromulent, another cromulent word. – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Aug 31 '10 at 19:47
up vote 5 down vote

In addition to what Ed Guiness said,

Our meeting has been moved to this afternoon.

(Assuming, obviously, that the original time was later than this afternoon, e.g. tomorrow morning.)

Or if you want to give emphasis to the "preponing":

Our meeting has been moved to an earlier time/date: [...]

But go ahead and use "prepone" if you have reason to believe that the people you are addressing are familiar with the term (or at least wouldn't object to using it). :-)

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The first sentence doesn't mean that the meeting as scheduled for an earlier time; if the meeting was first scheduled for the morning, saying that it has been moved to this afternoon would mean that the meeting has been postponed. – kiamlaluno Aug 31 '10 at 18:32
Oh, rly? :-P The assumption that the original time was later than "this afteroon" was implicit, but (I thought) obvious enough in this context. – Jonik Aug 31 '10 at 18:52
up vote 3 down vote

Our meeting has been moved up.

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No; I'd interpret "anticipated" in this context to mean "expected". – Steve Melnikoff Aug 31 '10 at 14:42
Do you mean that come or take place before means expected? – kiamlaluno Aug 31 '10 at 14:48
@kiamlaluno: No, I mean that the definition of "anticipated" in your original answer doesn't match my understanding of the word. – Steve Melnikoff Aug 31 '10 at 15:37
@Steve Melnikoff: I got it; the meaning of anticipated in the context is not the one I was giving to the word. I corrected my answer after I asked to a person who speaks American English as first language what she would say (her job was to make meetings; I trust she shows how to say that a meeting has been rescheduled to an earlier time :-)). – kiamlaluno Aug 31 '10 at 18:30
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@warren: That's the opposite of my experience. "Moved ahead" also means "moved up", by the way. – Dennis Williamson Aug 31 '10 at 21:56
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