The influence of B-site deficiency on the stability of electrically induced long-range ferroelectric order of the stoichiometric Bi.sub.0.5+xNa.sub.0.5-xTi.sub.1-0.5xwhite square.sub.0.5xO.sub.3 (BNT-xV.sub.Ti) ("white square" denotes vacancies) ceramics is studied. The depolarization and ferroelectric to relaxor transition are identified as separate and discrete processes in BNT-based materials. For BNT-0.02V.sub.Ti, the resonance and anti-resonance peaks on dielectric permittivity-frequency curves indicate dominating ferroelectric phase at room temperature. The depolarization temperature, determined by thermally stimulated depolarization current, is ~ 65 °C. However, the ferroelectric to relaxor transition temperature is absent, as no distinct frequency-independent anomalies for the dielectric permittivity exist. This depolarization process can be ascribed to nanoscale ferroelectric domain at room temperature for BNT-0.02V.sub.Ti, which is induced by chemical disorder and strong random field as V.sub.Ti generated. Hence, the results imply that the B-site deficiency in BNT is a very effective route to tailor the stability of electrically induced long-range ferroelectric order.