Defer

Revision as of 21:55, 4 September 2004 by 142.177.81.201 (talk)

To defer is to trust someone else (an authority) more than yourself on an issue. It is a sign of integrity to sometimes trust someone else more than you in this way and to bet on their judgement over yours. A TIPAESA structure explicitly defers to some authority in its last resort, e.g. by attribution.

Contrast: refer, infer.

Typically repute must be assigned by, or audited by, some authority. A credit rating is the most obvious example. Other examples such as the approval of candidates for a political party by its leader, or priestly hierarchy, e.g. Vatican.