DECENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does decent mean? 

• DECENT (adjective)
  The adjective DECENT has 6 senses:

1. socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous

2. in harmony with the spirit of particular persons or occasion

3. conforming to conventions of sexual behavior

4. sufficiently clothed to see visitors or appear in public

5. observing conventional sexual mores in speech or behavior or dress

6. meeting requirements

  Familiarity information: DECENT used as an adjective is common.

• DECENT (adverb)
  The adverb DECENT has 1 sense:

1. in the right manner; correctly; suitably

  Familiarity information: DECENT used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DECENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous

Synonyms:

decent; nice

Context example:

a nice girl

Similar:

respectable (characterized by socially or conventionally acceptable morals)

Derivation:

decency (the quality of being polite and respectable)

decency (the quality of conforming to standards of propriety and morality)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In harmony with the spirit of particular persons or occasion

Synonyms:

decent; fitting

Context example:

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field...It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this

Similar:

proper (marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Conforming to conventions of sexual behavior

Context example:

speech in this circle, if not always decent, never became lewd

Also:

clean; unobjectionable ((of behavior or especially language) free from objectionable elements; fit for all observers)

decorous (characterized by propriety and dignity and good taste in manners and conduct)

proper (marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness)

Antonym:

indecent (offensive to good taste especially in sexual matters)

Derivation:

decency (the quality of conforming to standards of propriety and morality)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Sufficiently clothed to see visitors or appear in public

Context example:

are you decent?

Similar:

modest (not offensive to sexual mores in conduct or appearance)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Observing conventional sexual mores in speech or behavior or dress

Context example:

though one of her shoulder straps had slipped down, she was perfectly decent by current standards

Similar:

modest (not offensive to sexual mores in conduct or appearance)

Derivation:

decency (the quality of conforming to standards of propriety and morality)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Meeting requirements

Synonyms:

acceptable; decent; satisfactory

Context example:

a decent wage

Similar:

good (having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified)

• DECENT (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In the right manner; correctly; suitably

Synonyms:

decent; decently; properly; right

Context example:

can't you carry me decent?

 Context examples 

They'll be machinery enough an' hands enough to do it all in decent workin' hours, an' Mart, s'help me, I'll make yeh superintendent of the shebang—the whole of it, all of it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There, sir, you are redd up and made decent.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It’s a baddish business, he added when the butler had gone; he’s our leading man about here, is old Cunningham, and a very decent fellow too.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If he does, however, they will leave me in peace, which may be a decent equivalent for the reversion.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I learned, however, from his wife, who seemed a decent, poor soul, that he was only the assistant to Smollet, who of the two mates was the responsible person.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was borne in the latter with decent philosophy.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

She may tear it tonight, and that will be a good excuse for offering a decent one.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And those who do know, whisper that the hunters, while excellent shots, were so notorious for their quarrelsome and rascally proclivities that they could not sign on any decent schooner.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

There are decent women in the house, I am told; and it is a pity such a light as you should be among them, and concealed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“I can hardly think that you would find many decent citizens to agree with you,” I answered.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)