diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 7466bd9..02a9fff 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -31,6 +31,22 @@ async function convert(schema, options = {}) {
 	return schema;
 }
 
+// we want to expose a non-async function that will skip dereferencing
+// but because the module only exposes a single function, we attach it to the main function
+// so we dont have to introduce a breaking change
+convert.sync = function convertSync(schema, options = {}) {
+	const { cloneSchema = true } = options;
+
+	if (cloneSchema) {
+		schema = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(schema));
+	}
+
+	const vocab = schemaWalker.getVocabulary(schema, schemaWalker.vocabularies.DRAFT_04);
+	schemaWalker.schemaWalk(schema, convertSchema, null, vocab);
+	return schema;
+}
+
+
 function stripIllegalKeywords(schema) {
 	delete schema['$schema'];
 	delete schema['$id'];
diff --git a/test/dereference_schema.test.js b/test/dereference_schema.test.js
index e7b1111..9564be0 100644
--- a/test/dereference_schema.test.js
+++ b/test/dereference_schema.test.js
@@ -26,6 +26,27 @@ it('not dereferencing schema by default', async () => {
   should(result).deepEqual(expected, 'result does not match the expected');
 });
 
+it('running convert.sync is sync version equivalent to dereference: false', () => {
+  const schema = {
+    $schema: 'http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#',
+    properties: {
+      foo: {
+        $ref: '#/definitions/foo',
+      },
+    },
+    definitions: {
+      foo: ['string', 'null'],
+    },
+  };
+
+  const result = convert.sync(JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(schema)));
+
+  const expected = { ...schema };
+  delete expected.$schema;
+
+  should(result).deepEqual(expected, 'result does not match the expected');
+});
+
 it('dereferencing schema with deference option', async () => {
   const schema = {
     $schema: 'http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#',