Respectable Meaning
[ɹɪˈspɛk.tə.bl̩]Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjDeserving respect.
adjDecent; satisfactory.
Sentence Examples
He is said to have been a man of respectable position.
I know some most respectable people in the town.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After getting a well-paid job, he quickly became a ____ member of the community.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She came from a ____ family and had been raised with strong values of honesty and hard work.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English respect Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English respectable From respect + -able.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. In this way all respectable burgesses, down to fifty years ago, spent their evenings."
— 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
"Don't you find respectable people terribly dull?"
— 1932, Jules Furthman, Shanghai Express, spoken by Hui Fei (Anna May Wong):
"They forced their way into the meetings called by the respectables; and the respectables disappeared. It was of their own respectable good pleasure that they withdrew."
— 1872, Thomas Cooper, The Life of Thomas Cooper, page 221:
"The tensions between the "respectables" and the "gay spoilers""
— 1978 February 11, Michael Bronski, “The Gayest Parade In Town”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 31, page 13:
"The “respectables”, then, impute to themselves an absence of such character blemishes, or stated in more positive terms, an allegiance to American mainstream morality."
— 2014, Mitchell Duneier, Philip Kasinitz, Alexandra Murphy, The Urban Ethnography Reader, page 38:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After getting a well-paid job, he quickly became a ____ member of the community.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She came from a ____ family and had been raised with strong values of honesty and hard work.