with respect

phraseC1formal · an editor’s judgementNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

With respect is a polite opening to a disagreement. What follows will not be respectful in the slightest.

It is one of the most reliably ironic phrases in English, and lawyers, politicians and committee members all use it before contradicting somebody. The intensified version, with the greatest respect, means even less. Everybody in the room understands the convention. There is a plain and genuine use in formal writing, and with respect to simply means concerning, which is a different phrase altogether.

Definitions of with respect

1phrasewith respectUsed before politely contradicting somebody.C1
“With respect, that is not what the report actually says.”

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Small Talk & Everyday Phrases

First appears in chapter 5 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

← Vocabulary

with respect

phraseC1formal · an editor’s judgementNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

With respect is a polite opening to a disagreement. What follows will not be respectful in the slightest.

Definitions of with respect

1phrasewith respectUsed before politely contradicting somebody.C1
“With respect, that is not what the report actually says.”

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Small Talk & Everyday Phrases

First appears in chapter 5 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word