How to use deflection in a sentence

16 example sentences · noun

Deflection means the act of deflecting or something deflected. Example: “Russell's goalbound shot took a deflection off a defender and went out for a corner.”

Examples of deflection by meaning

nounThe act of deflecting or something deflected.

Russell's goalbound shot took a deflection off a defender and went out for a corner.
The next morning Oswald stopped short in the middle of his shaving, which in his case involved the most tortuous deflections and grimacings.1918, H. G. Wells, Joan and Peter

nounThe act of refusing to address something (questions, criticism, etc.).

“‘I’m focused on the future’ is one of the most generic store-brand fuckboy deflections there is,” Oliver fumed.2024 October 7, John Oliver, quotee, “John Oliver on VP debate’s ‘civility’: ‘Etiquette is kind of beside the point’”, in The Guardian...

nounBending or deformation under load.

The deflections of the girders were precisely in accordance with the calculations of the engineers.1950 March, H. A. Vallance, “On Foot Across the Forth Bridge”, in Railway Magazine, page 148
Tyre design deflection profile under load is about a one-third reduction in tyre section radius.1993 June, Presidency of Civil Aviation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, “2.4 Tyre Failure”, in McDonnell-Douglas DC-8-61, C-GMXQ, accident...

More sentences with deflection

Inquiries have typically been met with silence, deflection, or abrupt refusal to engage.2019 November 24, Michael Lee, “Jimmy Butler boos, Josh Richardson buckets and a reunion for both players that answered a few lingering…. From the entry dot-connection
Sackler offered testimony largely pocked with faint or absent recollections, terse statements and deflections to his legal team.2021 August 18, Jan Hoffman, “Richard Sackler Says Family and Purdue Bear No Responsibility for Opioid Crisis”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry pocked
This condition can result in problems ranging from high pilot control force necessary to move the rudder to uncommanded rudder deflections.2001 March 27, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.16.3 Detail Examination and Tests of Standby Rudder Actuator Input Shaft and…. From the entry galling
The air stream convectively cooling the device affects both the critical buckling values of the electric current and the postbuckling deflections of the structure.2016, Yoav Kessler, Slava Krylov, Alex Liberzone, “Flow sensing by buckling monitoring of electrothermally actuated double-clamp ed micro…. From the entry postbuckling
In the presence of a plasma nonhomogeneity, the chromatic refractive deflection also occurs, so the presence of plasma always makes gravitational lensing chromatic.2015, G. S. Bisnovatyi-Kogan, O. Yu. Tsupko, “Gravitational Lensing in Plasmic Medium”, in Plasma Physics Reports, volume 2015, pages…. From the entry nonhomogeneity
Dennis captured the speech rhythms and humour of ordinary Australians, their gift of 'chiack', and their deflection of adversity with a ready joke.2004, Eugene Benson, L.W. Conolly, Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. From the entry chiack
Tracy directly replied to Tucker’s statement saying, “This is just more of the same DARVO, deflection, victim blaming and lies that I’ve been dealing with now for months.”2023 September 12, Jayna Bardahl, “College football’s overrated, underrated teams: Ole Miss, Duke and Alabama”, in The New York Times…. From the entry DARVO
Scientists suggest this could indicate a much larger magnetic deflection than predicted, an unidentified source in the Local Void, or an incomplete understanding of high-energy particle physics.2023 November 24, Hannah Devlin, “‘What the heck is going on?’ Extremely high-energy particle detected falling to Earth”, in The Guardian…. From the entry Local Void
However, there is a particular objection to the rational defensibility of moral inertia that has to do with the intelligibility of the concept of deflection in general.2008 April 1, Carolina Sartorio, “Moral inertia”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 140, number 1, →DOI. From the entry defensibility
The bimetals can be used in forms such as the deflection of a straight strip, the rotation of spirals or helices and the snap action of dished discs.2002 September 27, M. A. Laughton, D.F. Warne, Electrical Engineer's Reference Book, Newnes, →ISBN, page 45. From the entry bimetal
In the end, perhaps these deflections are easier than confronting the reality and debunking some of the less helpful stories a certain section of England likes to tell about itself.2023 July 4, Marina Hyde, “Who’s for political Bazball with Rishi? Voters? Tories? Anyone?”, in The Guardian. From the entry stiff

Meaning of deflection

noun The act of deflecting or something deflected.
noun Deviation (of a needle or other indicator or mechanism) from a previous position.
noun The act of refusing to address something (questions, criticism, etc.).

Full definition of deflection

Questions about deflection in a sentence

How do you use deflection in a sentence?: Deflection is used as a noun. For example: “Russell's goalbound shot took a deflection off a defender and went out for a corner.”
What is a short sentence with deflection?: “Inquiries have typically been met with silence, deflection, or abrupt refusal to engage.”
What does deflection mean?: Deflection means the act of deflecting or something deflected.

Adapted from Wiktionary: deflection (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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