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decency

UK/ˈdiːsənsi/US/ˈdisənsi/
nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — decent sits at #1,152leans spoken

Decency is basic honest, polite behaviour towards other people. Not heroism — the ordinary minimum.

The phrase common decency is where the word does most of its work, since appealing to it claims that something is obvious rather than arguable. There is a second sense about propriety, and public decency is a legal category concerning behaviour in view of others. The phrase having the decency to do something is a reproach dressed as a compliment. The adjective decent covers both, and in British speech it also just means quite good.

Definitions of decency

  1. 1noundecencyHonest and considerate behaviour towards others.C1

    “He might at least have had the decency to ring.”

Where it comes from

  1. Latin

    decentia

  2. English, today

    decency

From Latin decentia, from decens. Equivalent to decent + cy. Compare French décence.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 5 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

decency in the wild

  • Members were asked to pledge to patronize only those motion pictures which did not "offend decency and Christian morality".

    National Legion of Decency

  • The ruling's reference to "evolving standards of decency" is frequently cited in Eighth Amendment jurisprudence.

    Trop v. Dulles

  • Adab in the context of behavior, refers to prescribed Islamic etiquette: "refinement, good manners, morals, decorum, decency, humaneness".

    Adab (Islam)

  • In cases where the marriage is consummated, public decency gives way to affinity.

    Public propriety

  • Outraging public decency is a common law offence in England and Wales, Hong Kong and the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria.

    Outraging public decency

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • decent
  • indecent
  • indecency