Etymologically
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deterrent

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /dɪˈtɜːɹənt/, /dɪˈtɛɹənt/[1]
  • UK: /dɪˈtɛɹənt/[1]
  • US: /dɪˈtɝənt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēterrēns (“deterring”), the present participle of dēterreō (“to frighten off, discourage”),[2][3][4][5][6] from dē- (“away”) and terreō (“to frighten”),[4][7] the source of terrible and terror.[4] Etymonline reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *tros- (“to make afraid”) for the Latin verb.[4] The verb deter had been borrowed from the same Latin verb in the 1570s.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both the adjective, having the power to deter, and the noun, something that deters, are first recorded in 1829, in Bentham's Rationale of Punishments.[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The first record comes from Bentham's work on punishment, and the word is still used of penalties that discourage crime.[2][3] It was later applied to weapons, especially the nuclear weapons of a state or alliance held to discourage an attack;[2][6][8] Etymonline dates this use to 1954.[4] The deterrent or the great deterrent then meant the hydrogen bomb.[2] The noun deterrence took on the matching Cold War sense of a strategy of threatening retaliation from 1955.[4]

Timeline

  • 1829 – adjective, tending to deter; noun, something that deters.[2][4][3]
  • 1954 – a nuclear weapon held to deter attack.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Something that deters or discourages: High fines are a deterrent to illegal dumping.[8][3][2]
  2. A weapon or set of weapons, especially nuclear ones, held by a state to discourage attack by another.[8][2][6]

Adjective

  1. Serving or tending to deter.[8][3][2]
  2. Relating to deterrence.[3]

Word family

  • deterrently
  • nondeterrent
  • deterrence

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins