Meanings
- uncountableliterary theoryhuman sciencesThe endless deferral of any ultimate meaning in a word or sentence, owing to the necessity of recourse to a potentially infinite series of other, equally uncertain words or signs.
This is the final Derridan manoeuvre, the showing up of ‘blind spots’ in a text, or the ‘blindness’ of an author to certain textual ‘différances’ or ‘suppléments’ in his own text, operative though not observed.
1980 June 5, Roger Poole, “Roger Poole on the seductions and dangers of structuralism”, in London Review of Books, volume 02, number 11, →ISSN
Origin
- Frenchdifférance“deferral”
- Englishdifférance
From French différance (“deferral”) (coined in this sense by Derrida), from différer (“to defer”); but punning on différence (“difference”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 延異 /延异
- 延異 /延异 (yányì)the endless deferral of any ultimate meaning in a word or sentence
Japanese 差延
- 差延 (saen)the endless deferral of any ultimate meaning in a word or sentence
Russian различание
- различание (različanije)the endless deferral of any ultimate meaning in a word or sentence
Cite this entry
différance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diff%C3%A9rance
“différance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diff%C3%A9rance. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “différance,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diff%C3%A9rance.
Source: différance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.