deferent
1marked by or showing deference: She was always deferent to her elders.
Origin of deferent
1Words Nearby deferent
Other definitions for deferent (2 of 2)
conveying away; efferent.
of or relating to the vas deferens.
Astronomy. (in the Ptolemaic system) the circle around the earth in which a celestial body or the center of the epicycle of its orbit was thought to move.
Origin of deferent
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use deferent in a sentence
The eighth sphere had neither deferent nor epicycle but to it were attached the fixed stars.
Astronomical Lore in Chaucer | Florence M. GrimmCorresponding to each planet there was supposed to be a circle called a deferent, which had the earth as its centre.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia | VariousThe moon moves on an epicycle centred on a second epicycle, itself centred on a deferent, excentric to the earth.
History of Astronomy | George ForbesThe man's tone was so earnest, and there was so deferent a look in his eyes, that the Princess recovered some of her courage.
Fantmas | Pierre SouvestreMealy Benoît had paid his score already, and Hogshead Geoffroy's deferent escort of friends was getting restless.
Fantmas | Pierre Souvestre
British Dictionary definitions for deferent (1 of 2)
/ (ˈdɛfərənt) /
another word for deferential
British Dictionary definitions for deferent (2 of 2)
/ (ˈdɛfərənt) /
(esp of a bodily nerve, vessel, or duct) conveying an impulse, fluid, etc, outwards, down, or away; efferent
astronomy (in the Ptolemaic system) a circle centred on the earth around which the centre of the epicycle was thought to move
Origin of deferent
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse