deference
UK /ˈdɛfəɹəns/ · US /ˈdɛ.fɚ.əns/ noun
Forms deferences
- noun Great respect. “The children treated their elders with deference.”
- noun The willingness to carry out the wishes of others. “By tidying his room, he showed deference to his mother.”
Synonyms
honor respect respectfulness complaisance compliance compliancy obligingness
Etymology
From French déférence. Morphologically defer + -ence.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A yielding of judgment or preference from respect to the wishes or opinion of another; submission in opinion; regard; respect; complaisance.
Etymology [F. déférence. See 3d Defer.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “deference”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details