student asking question

What's the difference in usage between "dock" and "deduct" if there's any? I feel like their meaning is pretty much the same.

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

You're right. They're very similar! The main difference is that "dock" is used more commonly with money or wages and not really for anything else, whereas "deduct" can be used for many things and not just in regards to money. So, "dock" does mean "deduct," but you can't replace "deduct" with "dock" for everything. Ex: They docked his wages when he showed up very late to work. Ex: The scratches on the painting deduct from the value and the meaning of the artwork.

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