Word.ws English Dictionary

deferent

/ˈdɛfəɹənt/

deferent adjective: showing deference; deferential.

Adjective (1)

deferent (comparative more deferent, superlative most deferent)

  1. Showing deference; deferential.

Noun

deferent (plural deferents)

  1. A duct in the body serving to carry away from, as opposed to an afferent one.
  2. (historical, Ptolemaic astronomy) An imaginary circle surrounding the Earth, in whose periphery either the heavenly body or the centre of the heavenly body's epicycle was supposed to be carried round.
  3. (obsolete) That which carries or conveys.
    • though air be the most favorable deferent of sounds1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...

Adjective (2)

deferent (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Serving to carry; bearing.
    • Bodies deferent.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...

deferent meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Tagalog and Persian

deferent in Tamil

புவிசூழ் கற்பனை வட்டம்

deferent in Urdu

مودب, پاس کرنے والا

deferent in Tagalog

showing deference
masunurin

deferent in Persian

showing deference
باادب bâadab

Forms of deferent

Adjective
comparativemore deferent
superlativemost deferent
Noun
pluraldeferents

Origin of deferent

From defer and deference; see -ent.

From Middle English defferent, from Middle French deferent (modern French déférent) or its etymon Latin dēferēns, dēferentis.

Words formed from deferent

Questions about deferent

What does deferent mean?
Deferent means showing deference; deferential.
What is deferent in Tamil?
Deferent in Tamil is புவிசூழ் கற்பனை வட்டம். See Deferent meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is deferent?
Deferent can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce deferent?
Deferent is pronounced /ˈdɛfəɹənt/ (UK).

Words near deferent in the dictionary

  1. defer
  2. deferable
  3. deferasirox
  4. deference
  5. deferences
  6. deferent
  7. deferentectomies
  8. deferentectomy
  9. deferential
  10. deferentialism
  11. deferentiality

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deferent (page history and authors); deferent (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deferent (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-deferent.wav.

Cite this entry: “deferent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deferent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.