Differed and deferred are easily confused words.
The spell-check application of most word processing software programs would not catch a slip-up of these two words. Spell-check is looking for words that aren’t in its dictionary, and words that resemble words in its dictionary, but are possibly spelled wrong. Spell-check isn’t perfect. It doesn’t know and can’t guess what word you wanted, or what word you meant, it can only judge the words on the page. If you used words that are all spelled correctly, it gives you a pass anyway.
Autocorrect suggests words that start with the same letters. It’s suggesting what word you may want to save time, but quite often, its suggestions are pretty off base. They don’t help you out, but they do make you laugh.
Differed (pronounced “dih-furred”) is the past tense of the verb “differ.” To differ means to disagree, or when two or more things possess distinctive characteristics. So the past tense, “differed,” refers to disagreeing in the past, or having discernable characteristics in the past.
Deferred (pronounced “dee-furred”) has multiple meanings.
To defer can mean to put off, or delay something. Deferred indicates something was put off, or delayed, in the past.
As an adjective, deferred describes something that was put off or delayed, as in the phrase deferred admission. This is when some college students get accepted to college, then choose to travel for a year and start attending a semester or two later.
It can also describe the denial of the realization of a goal in the past. For example, poet Langston Hughes wrote in “Harlem,” “what happens to a dream deferred?” It’s a poem asking about what happens when a person realizes a dream they had for his/her life will not be realized anytime soon, or if at all. He personifies the dream. Does it feel rage? depression? resignation? Does it smell rotted or decayed? Check out the poem here.
- It can also mean to consult someone else before making a decision or offering an opinion. For example:
- He deferred to his staff on office management issues.
- The children deferred to their parents on school trips and activities.
The following story uses both words correctly:
Deforest and Destiny differed on almost every political issue. She was conservative, he was more liberal. They met working on rival campaigns in the 2000s.His candidate won, but by a very narrow margin. Their relationship really blossomed after the election.
They were being interviewed on a news magazine episode about blended families. Their eldest son had just deferred admission to Stanford for computer science. Their eldest daughter was studying at Julliard.
Deforest shared, “You know, we always discuss things as a family. We each have goals, but we deferred to each other before accepting them. We asked for perspective from each other. We want to make choices that will work best for everybody and be a good idea long term.”
Destiny added, “After the campaign, I could have joined the TV pundit game. At first it sounded exciting. It would have raised my individual profile, I would be a famous face on TV. I won’t deny that sounded very exciting.
After talking with the family, I felt it would ultimately reflect poorly on us.I could just imagine the kids saying to friends at school: ‘Mom’s on TV in shouting matches with people every night.’ So I would make the big bucks, but I wouldn’t see the most important people in my life very often. After talking with everyone, it was clear. A TV gig was not for me. So I have done PR and campaign consulting instead. It’s paid off.
Kathleen W Curry 