SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
deference
noun
Respectful yielding to another person's judgment or wishes.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Respectful yielding
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topCourtesy can be shown without yielding; deference gives weight to another person's wishes or judgment.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See deference in use
Out of deference to the host, the guests waited to begin.
The chair maintained her composure when several people spoke at once, waiting until she could restate the question in a calm voice. Her manner remained cordial, but she did not allow interruptions to erase a resident's turn. She showed deference to the caretaker's knowledge of the building's booking arrangements while asking him to distinguish established practice from his own preference.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license