1The threat of severe economic sanctions served as a deterrent to the rogue state's aggressive military expansion.
2Does the death penalty truly act as a deterrent to potential murderers, or does it merely satisfy a desire for retribution?
3The new policy aims to provide a deterrent to companies that engage in environmentally destructive practices.
4In the absence of a credible deterrent, the risk of nuclear proliferation increases significantly.
5There is an ongoing debate among criminologists about the effectiveness of imprisonment as a deterrent to recidivism.