Word.ws English Dictionary

deferentialism

deferentialism noun: a policy or habit of behaving deferentially.

Noun

deferentialism (uncountable)

  1. A policy or habit of behaving deferentially.
    • Some observers have concluded that an important element in the Conservative survival has been 'deferentialism', a reminder of a fundamental respect for a ruling — or at least an officer — class.1972, Robert Rhodes James, Ambitions and Realities: British Politics 1964-70, page 91
    • All these forms of deference, and their combined outcome of deferentialism, are problematic for the role of the judiciary as guardians of constitutionalism and human rights.2016, Martin Scheinin, Helle Krunke, Marina Aksenova, Judges as Guardians of Constitutionalism and Human Rights

Origin of deferentialism

From deferential + -ism.

Questions about deferentialism

What does deferentialism mean?
Deferentialism means a policy or habit of behaving deferentially.
What part of speech is deferentialism?
Deferentialism is a noun.

Words near deferentialism in the dictionary

  1. deferences
  2. deferent
  3. deferentectomies
  4. deferentectomy
  5. deferential
  6. deferentialism
  7. deferentiality
  8. deferentially
  9. deferentitis
  10. deferently
  11. deferents

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deferentialism (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.

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