Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DEFERENTIAL
Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.
The word deferential appears in a line from one of my favorite poems, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," by T. S. Eliot:
The word "defer" has Latin bits that literally mean "to carry down," or "to carry away."
Part of speech:
"Deferential" is formal, serious, and semi-common.
"An accomplished businesswoman employed by Federal Express in Tokyo, Yasuko didn't fit the meek, deferential stereotype of a middle-aged Japanese woman."
Explain the meaning of "deferential" without saying "respectful" or "obedient."
You might read in the news how some young politician is deferential to the older politicians in the party. Or how some group of lawmakers is deferential to some lucrative industry. Or how some corporation is deferential to some trend or movement in social justice. Or how some social media giant is deferential to some authoritarian government.
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
1.
The opposite of DEFERENTIAL is
|