Meaning & use
deference
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Meaning
noununcountableformal
Polite respect shown by following someone's opinion, wishes or authority rather than your own.
Grammar: Uncountable and often used with to: show deference to someone; also in the phrase in deference to.
Patterns
- deference to someone
- in deference to something
- show deference
The young lawyer spoke with deference to the senior judge.
In deference to her grandmother, she wore a dress to dinner.
He showed little deference to authority.
Common combinations
- in deference to
- In deference to the family's wishes, the ceremony was private.
- show deference
- Students were expected to show deference to their professors.
- with deference
- She listened with deference to the elder's advice.
- out of deference
- He lowered his voice out of deference to the sleeping children.
- defer to
- The team deferred to the captain's judgment.
Synonyms and how they differ
- respect
- Respect is wider and can be felt without giving way, while deference means yielding to another person's wishes.
- submission
- Submission is stronger and suggests giving in completely, while deference is polite and voluntary.
- obedience
- Obedience means doing as you are told, while deference is respectful yielding to someone's opinion, with less duty to obey.
- courtesy
- Courtesy is general politeness, while deference places someone's views above your own.
Opposites
Word family
- defer verb
- to yield to another person's opinion
- deferential adjective
- showing respect and willingness to yield
- deferentially adverb
- in a respectful, yielding way
Commonly confused: deference or difference? deference or defiance?
deference vs difference
Difference is how things are unlike; deference is respectful yielding. They sound close but are spelled differently.
deference vs defiance
Defiance is open refusal to obey, the opposite of deference.
Practice
___ to the neighbors' request, the band stopped playing at ten.
Choose one answer.
In deference to means out of respect for, which suits stopping at a request. In defiance would mean the band ignored the request.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “deference”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.