Deference

Definitions: Deference

Deference

Noun

1. An courteous expression (by word or deed) of esteem or regard; "his deference to her wishes was very flattering"; "be sure to give my respects to the dean".

2. Courteous regard for people's feelings; "in deference to your wishes"; "out of respect for his privacy".

3. A disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others.

Date "deference" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references)

Synonyms: Deference

Synonyms: complaisance (n), compliance (n), compliancy (n), obligingness (n), respect (n), respectfulness (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Humility	Under correction, with due deference.
Obedience	Allegiance, loyalty, fealty, homage, deference, devotion; constancy, fidelity.
Respect	Noun: respect, regard, consideration; courtesy; attention, deference, reverence, honor, esteem, estimation, veneration, admiration; approbation.
	Adverb: in deference to; with all respect, with all due respect, with due respect, with the highest respect; with submission.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Deference

English words defined with "deference": court ♦ deferent, deferential ♦ Free lance ♦ homage ♦ regardful, respect, respectfulness ♦ To have respect of persons, To look up to. (references)

Specialty definitions using "deference": Envy ♦ Penny ♦ So, Such ♦ Welcome. (references)

Etymologies containing "deference": Deferential. (references)

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Your seed like yourselves will pay deference to the ultimate dynasty which I alone have created. (Moonraker; writing credit: Christopher Wood)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Canadian Revolution From Deference to De (reference) Deference and Defiance in Monterrey : Workers, Paternalism, and Revolution in Mexico, 1890-1950 (reference) Deference to Authority: The Case of Canada (reference) The Ethics of Deference : Learning from Law's Morals (reference) The politics of deference : a study of the mid-nineteenth century English political system (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Sometimes called The Soybean Doctor in deference to his plant-breeding successes, agronomist Edgar E. Hartwig has devoted half a century to soybeans research. P.Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Keith Weller..
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Locke	An ill argument introduced with deference will procure more credit than the profoundest science with a rough, insolent, and noisy management.
Sebastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort	Eminence without merit earns deference without esteem.
Walter Savage Landor	Great men always pay deference to greater.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Author	Date	Quotation
John Locke	1690	He has no dominion over his son's property, or actions; nor any right, that his will should prescribe to his son's in all things; however it may become his son in many things, not very inconvenient to him and his family, to pay a deference to it. (Second Treatise of Government)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man	Joyce, James	He stood still in deference to their calls and parried their banter with easy words.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Civil Liberties	Guinea	The Government refrains from appointing non-Muslims to important administrative positions in certain parts of the country, in deference to the particularly strong social dominance of Islam in these regions. (references)
	Hong Kong	However, some observers saw the decision of senior government officials not to meet with the mainland-born Gao Xingjian, the first Chinese to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, during the his January visit to Hong Kong as deference to PRC displeasure with the award to the exiled writer. (references)
Economic History	Egypt	In deference to growing nationalism, the U.K. unilaterally declared Egyptian independence in 1922. British influence, however, continued to dominate Egypt's political life and fostered fiscal, administrative, and governmental reforms. (references)
Human Rights	Yugoslavia	On April 25, two policemen brutally beat a law student because he failed to show them due deference as he entered a bakery in Podgorica. (references)
Political Economy	Japan	Strong bureaucrats, close links between the long-ruling LDP and key interest groups, and a traditional deference to authority make the Japanese economy much more inflexible than that of the United States. (references)
Political Rights	Somalia	Although many such groups derive their authority from the traditional deference given clan elders, most face opposition of varying strength from clan groups and political factions. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
George Washington	1789-1797	The acceptance of and continuance hitherto in the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference to what appeared to be your desire.
John F. Kennedy	1961-1963	If, on the other hand, we hang back in deference to local economic pressures, we will find ourselves cut off from our major allies.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Deference" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Deference" is used about 307 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	307	16,496

Expressions using "deference": in deference ♦ in deference out of deference to ♦ in deference to of deference to ♦ with all due deference ♦ with all due deference to ♦ with due deference. Additional references.
Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "deference": mock-deference.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "deference"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		respekt (esteem, honor, honour, regard, respect, respectability), nderim (compliments, consideration, credit, curtsey, curtsy, devoirs, distinction, esteem, estimation, homage, honor, honour, obeisance, respect, respectability, respectfulness, reverence, salute, veneration). (various references)

Arabic		‏مراعاة (adherence to, considerateness, consideration, keeping, observance, regard, respect), ‏إحترام (consideration, courtesy, esteem, estimation, homage, honor, honour, obeisance, prestige, regard, reputability, respect, respects, reverence), ‏إذعان (acquiescence, compliance, subjugation, submission, submissiveness). (various references)

Bulgarian		уважение (admiration, consideration, credit, duty, esteem, estimation, homage, honor, honour, obeisance, observance, piety, regard, respect, reverence, worship), почтителност (court, respect, respectfulness), почтително отношение. (various references)

Chinese		顺从 (Defer, Deferential, Deferred, Deferring). (various references)

Czech		uctivost, úcta (awe, esteem, estimation, obeisance, piety, regard, reputation, respect, reverence, tribute, veneration). (various references)

Dutch		eerbiedwaardigheid (devotion, respect). (various references)

Esperanto		respektindeco (devotion, respect). (various references)

Farsi		تمکین (Stoop), تن دردهی , تسلیم (Delivery, Rendition, Resignation, Submission, Surrender). (various references)

French		soumission (devotion), respect, référence. (various references)

German		ehrerbietung (obeisance, respect, reverence). (various references)

Greek		σεβασμόσ (consideration, respect, respectfulness, veneration), υποχώρηση (backing, displacement, lowering, recedence, recession, recoil, retreat, setback, subsidence, withdrawal). (various references)

Hungarian		tiszteletadás (compliment, duty, honours, obeisance, regard), belenyugvás (acquiescence), alkalmazkodás (accommodation, conformation, conformity, opportunism, pliableness, pliancy). (various references)

Indonesian		rasa hormat, hormat (compliment, regard, respect). (various references)

Italian		deferenza, ossequio (respect). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		恭倹 (respectfulness and modesty). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		きょうけ�" (ecclesiastical or educational authority, humility, mad dog, modesty, power of the state, respectfulness and modesty, robust health, strong throwing arm). (various references)

Korean		복종. (various references)

Pig Latin		eferenceday

Portuguese		deferência (consideration, homage, respect), respeito (awe, duty, esteem, home, reference, regard, respect, worship), consideração (account, consideration, deliberation, esteem, estimator, importance, regard, respect, thought). (various references)

Romanian		deferenţã (observancy, regard, respect), respect (consideration, duty, esteem, estimation, homage, obeisance, observance, observancy, regard, respect, reverence), consideraţie (attention, consideration, count, esteem, examination, recognition, regard, respect, sake, thought). (various references)

Russian		уважение (appreciation, consideration, esteem, estimation, homage, obeisance, regard, respect). (various references)

Scottish		urram (honour, respect, reverence). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		priklanjanje, popustljivost (amenability, clemency, complaisance, compliance, let alone, permissiveness, placability, suppleness), poštovanje (esteem, estimation, regard, respect, respects, reverence, tribute). (various references)

Spanish		deferencia (regard, softness, yieldingness), respeto (esteem, estimate, estimation, regard, respect), razón (answer, argument, case, cause, excuse, gist, ground, line, occasion, rate, ratio, reason, why). (various references)

Swedish		aktning (consideration, esteem, estimation, obeisance, respect). (various references)

Turkish		uyma (accommodation, adaptation, adherence, agreement, compliance, conformance, conformation, conformity, fit, observance, respect), saygı (compliment, consideration, esteem, estimation, homage, obeisance, piety, regard, respect, veneration), riayet (observance, respect), itaat (compliance, obedience, subjection, submission, subordination, tameness), hürmet (homage, honor, honour, obeisance, regard, respect, reverence, tribute, veneration). (various references)

Ukranian		шанобливе ставлення, пошана (credit, homage, kudos, obeisance), повага (credit, esteem, estimation, homage, obeisance, regard, respect, respectfulness). (various references)

Vietnamese		sự tôn kính (cult, duty, homage, reverence, veneration), sự chiều theo sự tôn trọng, sự chiều ý. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	cÃ¦remonia, cÃ¦rimonia. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "deference": deferences. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Deference" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: defeence, deferance, deferen, deferences, deferrence, defferance, defference, deffrence, Dejerine, deterence, diference. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "deference" (pronounced de"feruns or de"fruns)
6	-e" f er u n s	preference, reference.
5	-f er u n s	conference, difference, indifference, inference.
4	-er u n s	belligerence, deliverance, endurance, exuberance, furtherance, ignorance, intolerance, irreverence, protuberance, reverence, severance, temperance, tolerance, utterance.
3	-u n s	abeyance, abhorrence, absence, abstinence, abundance, acceptance, accordance, acquaintance, acquiescence, adherence, admirations, admittance, adolescence, affluence, allegiance, alliance, allowance, ambiance, ambience, ambivalence, ambulance, annoyance, appearance, appliance, arrogance, ascendance, assistance, assurance, attendance, audience, avoidance, balance, beneficence, benevolence, bioscience, brilliance, cadence, capacitance, chrominance, circumference, clairvoyance, Clarence, clearance, coexistence, cognizance, coherence, coincidence, coinsurance, comeuppance, competence, compliance, concurrence, condolence, confidence, confluence, conformance, congruence, connivance, conscience, consequence, consistence, continuance, contrivance, convalescence, convenience, convergence, conveyance, correspondence, countenance, counterbalance, counterintelligence, credence, dalliance, decadence, Defeasance, defiance, dependence, deterrence, deviance, diligence, disallowance, disappearance, discontinuance, disobedience, dissidence, dissonance, distance, disturbance, divergence, dominance, ebullience, elegance, eloquence, emergence, eminence, entrance, equivalence, essence, evanescence, evidence, excellence, existence, expedience, experience, extravagance, flamboyance, Florence, forbearance, fragrance, governance, grievance, guidance, hindrance, imbalance, immanence, imminence, impatience, impedance, importance, impotence, imprudence, inadvertence, incidence, incoherence, incompetence, incontinence, inconvenience, independence, inductance, indulgence, inexperience, influence, inheritance, innocence, insignificance, insistence, insolence, instance, insurance, intelligence, interdependence, interference, intransigence, invariance, irrelevance, issuance, jurisprudence, licence, license, luminance, luminescence, maintenance, malfeasance, negligence, neuroscience, noncompliance, noninterference, nonviolence, nuisance, obedience, observance, obsolescence, occurrence, omnipotence, omnipresence, opulence, ordinance, Ordnance, overabundance, overconfidence, overdependence, overreliance, parlance, patience, penance, performance, permanence, persecutions, perseverance, persistence, pestilence, petulance, phosphorescence, pittance, precedence, predominance, preeminence, preponderance, prescience, presence, prevalence, prominence, provenance, Providence, province, prudence, pseudoscience, quintessence, radiance, reappearance, reassurance, recalcitrance, recognizance, reconnaissance, recurrence, reemergence, reinspections, reinsurance, relevance, reliance, reluctance, remembrance, reminiscence, remittance, repentance, resemblance, residence, resilience, resistance, resonance, resurgence, reticence, riddance, science, semblance, senescence, sentence, sequence, significance, silence, submergence, subservience, subsidence, subsistence, substance, surveillance, sustenance, teleconference, transcendence, transference, transience, turbulence, unbalance, Valence, variance, vehemence, vengeance, videoconference, vigilance, violence, virulence.
5	-f r u n s	circumference, teleconference, videoconference.
4	-r u n s	abhorrence, adherence, appearance, assurance, Clarence, clearance, coherence, disappearance, entrance, Florence, forbearance, fragrance, hindrance, incoherence, insurance, interference, noninterference, perseverance, preponderance, reappearance, reassurance, recalcitrance, reinsurance, remembrance.
3	-u n s	abeyance, absence, abstinence, abundance, acceptance, accordance, acquaintance, acquiescence, admirations, admittance, adolescence, affluence, allegiance, alliance, allowance, ambiance, ambience, ambivalence, ambulance, annoyance, appliance, arrogance, ascendance, assistance, attendance, audience, avoidance, balance, belligerence, beneficence, benevolence, bioscience, brilliance, cadence, capacitance, chrominance, clairvoyance, coexistence, cognizance, coincidence, coinsurance, comeuppance, competence, compliance, concurrence, condolence, conference, confidence, confluence, conformance, congruence, connivance, conscience, consequence, consistence, continuance, contrivance, convalescence, convenience, convergence, conveyance, correspondence, countenance, counterbalance, counterintelligence, credence, dalliance, decadence, Defeasance, defiance, deliverance, dependence, deterrence, deviance, difference, diligence, disallowance, discontinuance, disobedience, dissidence, dissonance, distance, disturbance, divergence, dominance, ebullience, elegance, eloquence, emergence, eminence, endurance, equivalence, essence, evanescence, evidence, excellence, existence, expedience, experience, extravagance, exuberance, flamboyance, furtherance, governance, grievance, guidance, ignorance, imbalance, immanence, imminence, impatience, impedance, importance, impotence, imprudence, inadvertence, incidence, incompetence, incontinence, inconvenience, independence, indifference, inductance, indulgence, inexperience, inference, influence, inheritance, innocence, insignificance, insistence, insolence, instance, intelligence, interdependence, intolerance, intransigence, invariance, irrelevance, irreverence, issuance, jurisprudence, licence, license, luminance, luminescence, maintenance, malfeasance, negligence, neuroscience, noncompliance, nonviolence, nuisance, obedience, observance, obsolescence, occurrence, omnipotence, omnipresence, opulence, ordinance, Ordnance, overabundance, overconfidence, overdependence, overreliance, parlance, patience, penance, performance, permanence, persecutions, persistence, pestilence, petulance, phosphorescence, pittance, precedence, predominance, preeminence, preference, prescience, presence, prevalence, prominence, protuberance, provenance, Providence, province, prudence, pseudoscience, quintessence, radiance, recognizance, reconnaissance, recurrence, reemergence, reference, reinspections, relevance, reliance, reluctance, reminiscence, remittance, repentance, resemblance, residence, resilience, resistance, resonance, resurgence, reticence, reverence, riddance, science, semblance, senescence, sentence, sequence, severance, significance, silence, submergence, subservience, subsidence, subsistence, substance, surveillance, sustenance, temperance, tolerance, transcendence, transference, transience, turbulence, unbalance, utterance, Valence, variance, vehemence, vengeance, vigilance, violence, virulence.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "c-d-e-e-e-e-f-n-r"
	-1 letter: refenced.
	-2 letters: defence, refence.
	-3 letters: decern, decree, feeder, fenced, fencer, fender, needer, recede, reefed, refeed.
	-4 letters: ceder, cered, creed, defer, ender, fence, freed, refed.
	-5 letters: cede, cere, deer, dene, dere, dree, erne, feed, fend, fere, fern, free, need, nerd, rede, reed, reef, rend.
	Words containing the letters "c-d-e-e-e-e-f-n-r"
	+1 letter: deferences, referenced.
	+4 letters: defervescence.
	+5 letters: defervescences.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.