as in obedience
a readiness or willingness to yield to the wishes of others
the sycophantic deference with which the hotel treats celebrity guests
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of deference
The Supreme Court held that the HOA board’s decisions under the BJR would be given protection and judicial deference.
—
Kelly G. Richardson, Oc Register, 29 Dec. 2025
Many American cities are crisscrossed by freeways, in deference to car traffic, and public transit is often starved for funding.
—Jeanne Bonner, CNN Money, 19 Dec. 2025
Meaningful persuasion enshrines deference toward other countries (when merited) so that others may respond with deference in return (when merited).
—Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2025
Some conservative Justices may want to let the President down easy, with a display of deference before ruling against him, and some liberals may want the opportunity to come down hard in defense of the babies.
—Amy Davidson Sorkin, New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deference
Kelly G. Richardson, Oc Register, 29 Dec. 2025
Many American cities are crisscrossed by freeways, in deference to car traffic, and public transit is often starved for funding.
—Jeanne Bonner, CNN Money, 19 Dec. 2025
Meaningful persuasion enshrines deference toward other countries (when merited) so that others may respond with deference in return (when merited).
—Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2025
Some conservative Justices may want to let the President down easy, with a display of deference before ruling against him, and some liberals may want the opportunity to come down hard in defense of the babies.
—Amy Davidson Sorkin, New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deference
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deference
Noun
-
English wasn’t tied to the same expectations of obedience, modesty, or loyalty.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
6 Nov. 2025
-
The post-Super movies have more complex, contradictory characters but less ambiguity about what’s right (egalitarian societies in which every citizen has a voice) and what’s wrong (cultlike obedience to fascistic belief systems that have no interest in anything but domination and self-enrichment).—
Matt Zoller Seitz,
Vulture,
31 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Passage of this resolution was tantamount to acquiescence by Congress, granting the president the authority to respond militarily by sending thousands of troops to fight in Vietnam.—
Richard Cherwitz,
Sun Sentinel,
6 Jan. 2026
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Despite that goal, the Utah Legislature’s Republican supermajority, with Cox’s acquiescence, has taken a hard turn against solar power — which has been coming online faster than any other source in Utah and accounts for two-thirds of the new projects waiting to connect to the state’s power grid.—
Anjeanette Damon,
ProPublica,
12 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
But for Coles, his indoctrination to law enforcement has been a different level of submissiveness.—
Dan Pompei,
New York Times,
2 Dec. 2025
-
In Killers of the Flower Moon, his Ernest Burkhart starts off as a mopey, weak-minded World War One veteran, eager to do anything for his godfather uncle (Robert De Niro), but there’s still a certain likability to his dim-bulb submissiveness.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
2 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deference.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deference. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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