"deference toward" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It means showing respect or submission to someone or something. Example: The students showed deference toward their teacher by listening attentively and following her instructions.
The focus of the play is on the concierge and his simple deference toward Bush.
Axelrod was frustrated by what he saw as undue deference toward the banks.
In the wake of the show, Letterman adopted an air of deference toward Hillary Clinton.
They need to show much more respect and at times even deference toward these outsiders.
Bishop McCormack's deference toward priests in Boston was indicated in several cases addressed in the deposition.
And both have suffered from excessive deference toward British culture at the expense of their own.
Propriety is manifested in respect (6A6) or deference (2A6) toward elders and legitimate authority figures, especially as manifested in ceremonies and etiquette.
It has discarded the deference it displayed toward the Gandhi family and toward the Anglicised or, these days, Americanised top levels of society.
But over time, the arc of law has bent steadily toward deference to the administrative state.
But the decision was further evidence that a goal he first pursued as a junior justice in the 1970's, to turn the court toward greater deference to the states, has succeeded in criminal law as well as in other spheres.
For President Vladimir Putin, chair of the meeting, it's an opportunity not only to stand in the middle of the leaders' group photo, but to work toward commanding deference from the rest of the world; that he has chosen "energy security" as a conference theme points ostensibly to how he is working to that end.
