Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use deference in a sentence

17 example sentences · noun

Deference means great respect. Example: “The children treated their elders with deference.”

Examples of deference by meaning

nounGreat respect.

  • The children treated their elders with deference.

nounThe willingness to carry out the wishes of others.

  • By tidying his room, he showed deference to his mother.
  • 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.1983 December 31, Kenneth Hale-Wehmann, “The Business of Sex and Affection”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 24, page 8

More sentences with deference

  • Monarchists, and historians paying deference to monarchy, call them ‘king-counts’; Catalans and Catalanophiles call them ‘count-kings’.2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 171. From the entry Catalanophile
  • Matt and Bernie had the lower bunks and the Indian the upper: a deference to their Caucasianness.1979, Dale Riepe, The Owl Flies by Day, page 116. From the entry Caucasianness
  • Back then, Annibale spoke of the tenants with deference.2014, Alberto Savinio, "A Head Goes Flying", in Signor Dido: Stories, Richard Pevear (tr.) (Counterpoint Press), p. 26. From the entry generaless
  • This was said with a flattersome German deference, which gave a little added depth to the pleasurable sensations resulting from Dr.2010, Wyndham Lewis, Self Condemned. From the entry flattersome
  • He saw an opening for such a decouplement if “deference to western episteme” could be removed from the development picture.1998, Sujatha Sosale, Communication for Democracy Or Development?. From the entry decouplement
  • Mutely she commanded cars, arrangements, appointments, deference, respect.1983, Robert Ferro, The Family of Max Desir, page 14. From the entry mutely
  • In Trump’s eyes, Meloni’s sin appears to be one of lèse-majesté – specifically, failing to show the due deference of a subordinate to her boss.2026 July 1, Riccardo Alcaro, “Why Meloni has hit back hard against Trump and his ‘made up’ photo claim”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry lèse-majesté
  • In a pneumatic context, the claim to humorality is thus also, implicitly, a claim upon deference and a demand for social accommodation.2010, Gail Kern Paster, Humoring the Body: Emotions and the Shakespearean Stage, page 220. From the entry humorality
  • The great sage first superexcellently practises the virtues of respect, deference, and universal love, so that the mass of people love and follow him.1911, Huanzhang Chen, The Economic Principles of Confucius and His School, Columbia University, Longmans, Green & Company, Agents, page 54. From the entry superexcellently
  • 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. From the entry deferentialism
  • The cat didn't have a sense of what a witch was, and didn't care, but it was willing to tolerate his catness as long as he maintained proper deference.2013, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, Promises to Keep, page 125. From the entry catness
  • She wore a simple black silk dress, perhaps in deference to Tilly's death, though the note of mourning was jarred by flamboyant aquamarine ear-rings and too much rouge.1956, Delano Ames, chapter 4, in Crime out of Mind. From the entry aquamarine
  • Fank at once assumed what he considered to be a more suitable manner and it was with an ingratiating deference that he turned to meet the dealer.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London. From the entry ethnologically
  • “Welcome, sire!” Vespasian saluted, and after the briefest hesitation Plinius followed his legate’s example, swallowing his distaste for such deference to a mere native, albeit a king of his people.2002, Simon Scarrow, chapter 6, in When the Eagle Hunts (Eagles of the Empire; 3), London: Headline, →ISBN, pages 43–44. From the entry Plinius

Meaning of deference

  1. noun Great respect.
  2. noun The willingness to carry out the wishes of others.

Full definition of deference

Questions about deference in a sentence

How do you use deference in a sentence?
Deference is used as a noun. For example: “The children treated their elders with deference.”
What is a short sentence with deference?
“The children treated their elders with deference.”
What does deference mean?
Deference means great respect.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deference (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use deference in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/deference. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.