deference

See also: déférence

English

Etymology

From French déférence.

Morphologically defer +‎ -ence.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛfəɹəns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛ.fɚ.əns/, /ˈdɛ.fɹəns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛfəɹəns

Noun

deference (countable and uncountable, plural deferences)

1. Great respect.

   The children treated their elders with deference.

2. The willingness to carry out the wishes of others.
   • 1983 December 31, Kenneth Hale-Wehmann, “The Business of Sex and Affection”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 24, page 8:

     Michael in turn benefits from Tom. He loosens up a bit, stops talking so much like one of the bad novels he used to read, and learns to give his intellect a rest once in a while in deference to the emotions.

   By tidying his room, he showed deference to his mother.

Synonyms

• honor
• respect

Derived terms

• nondeference
• overdeference

 

Translations

great respect

• Bulgarian: почит (bg) f (počit)
• Catalan: deferència f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 尊敬 (zyun¹ ging³), 敬重 (ging³ zung⁶)

• Danish: ærbødighed
• Dutch: eerbied (nl) m
• Finnish: kunnioitus (fi), arvonanto (fi)
• French: respect (fr) m, déférence (fr) f
• German: Ehrerbietung (de) m, Respekt (de) m, Achtung (de) f
• Greek: σεβασμός (el) m (sevasmós)
• Hungarian: hódolat (hu)
• Irish: ómós m
• Italian: deferenza (it) f
• Maori: kauanuanu, ngākau whakaute
• Polish: szacunek (pl) m, atencja (pl) f (dated), atentacja f (archaic)
• Portuguese: deferência (pt) f
• Romanian: deferență (ro) f
• Russian: уваже́ние (ru) n (uvažénije), почте́ние (ru) n (počténije), респе́кт (ru) m (respékt), почита́ние (ru) n (počitánije)
• Serbo-Croatian: pokornost (sh) f, uvažavanje (sh) n, respekt (sh) m
• Spanish: deferencia (es) f
• Swedish: aktning (sv) c, vördnad (sv) c, respekt (sv) c
• Turkish: hürmet (tr)

the willingness to carry out the wishes of others

• Bulgarian: отстъпка (bg) f (otstǎpka), съобразяване (bg) n (sǎobrazjavane)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 服從／服从 (fuk⁶ cong⁴)

• Dutch: bereidwilligheid (nl) f
• Finnish: suostuvaisuus, kunnioitus (fi)
• French: déférence (fr) f
• Greek: σεβασμός (el) m (sevasmós)
• Ido: deferenceso
• Italian: deferenza (it) f
• Polish: posłuszeństwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: deferência (pt) f
• Romanian: deferență (ro) f
• Russian: послуша́ние (ru) n (poslušánije), поко́рность (ru) f (pokórnostʹ), усту́пчивость (ru) f (ustúpčivostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: pokornost (sh) f, poslušnost (sh) f
• Swedish: hänsyn (sv) c
• Tagalog: pagiging masunurin