The phrase "a certain deference" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing a respectful or courteous regard for someone or something, often in a formal context.
Example: "In the meeting, she spoke with a certain deference to the opinions of her colleagues, acknowledging their expertise."
Alternatives: "a degree of respect" or "some level of regard".
This ranges from a certain deference to authority and age to graciously allowing someone to merge into your lane of traffic.
It's often said that sudden heart attacks are no respecters of class or wealth, but they do arguably show a certain deference to the Russian security services.
Without a certain deference to the beyond, human virtue would almost always degenerate into self-serving and short-sighted opportunism, would fall prey to vanity and egoistic isolation, to nothingness.
With teenage cool, yet a certain deference, the soccer players of Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Manhattan sauntered into Coach Martin Jacobson's office to shake Ndiaye's hand.
Accustomed to a certain deference from citizens and the news media, members of France's political elite have been caught off guard by the cruder sensibilities and tabloid flavor of the online world.
Courts also give a certain deference to federal agencies' interpretation of relevant federal laws -- for instance, to the E.P.A.'s view of the Clean Air Act -- and lawyers on both sides say the states would not receive the same deference.
On a social level, even though an easy, breezy informality is the prevalent style of American business, the subordinate must extend to the boss a certain ritual deference: for instance, he must follow the boss's lead in conversation, must not speak out of turn at meetings, and must laugh at the boss's jokes while not making jokes of his own.
He's made so many mistakes that at a certain point, deference should have given way to sanity, and someone at ABC should have said, 'We need a strong, independent person to make sure he's right.' Someone to say, 'Who are your sources, how do they know that, demonstrate their veracity to me.' " ABC News said on Monday that it would have no further comment on Ross.
A certain modest deference to the empirical facts that philosophers generally do not have, again, does not seem unreasonable.
Presidents, like parents, expect from their kin certain deference, if not outright obedience.
Presidents, like parents, expect from their kin certain deference, if not outright obedience, and intra-party disputes do not tend to bring out the best in our commanders-in-chief.
