| English Dictionary |
RESPECTABLE
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Dictionary entry overview: What does respectable mean?
• RESPECTABLE (adjective)
The adjective RESPECTABLE has 3 senses:
1. characterized by socially or conventionally acceptable morals
2. deserving of esteem and respect
3. large in amount or extent or degree
Familiarity information: RESPECTABLE used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Characterized by socially or conventionally acceptable morals
Context example:
a respectable woman
Similar:
decent; nice (socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous)
presentable (fit to be seen)
solid; upstanding (meriting respect or esteem)
Also:
good (having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified)
reputable (having a good reputation)
worthy (having worth or merit or value; being honorable or admirable)
Antonym:
unrespectable (unworthy of respect)
Derivation:
respectability (honorableness by virtue of being respectable and having a good reputation)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Deserving of esteem and respect
Synonyms:
estimable; good; honorable; respectable
Context example:
ruined the family's good name
Similar:
reputable (having a good reputation)
Derivation:
respectability (honorableness by virtue of being respectable and having a good reputation)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Large in amount or extent or degree
Synonyms:
goodish; goodly; healthy; hefty; respectable; sizable; sizeable; tidy
Context example:
a sizable fortune
Similar:
considerable (large or relatively large in number or amount or extent or degree)
Context examples
He would do any good to her, or her family; but—“Well,” said Mrs. Weston, laughing, “perhaps the greatest good he could do them, would be to give Jane such a respectable home.”
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
If the respectable people knew what harm they did, they would not feel that the living was honest.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
To the right is the steward's house; he is a very respectable man.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
He was a respectable, elderly gentleman.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
We know that this woman has led a most quiet and respectable life at Penge and here for the last twenty years.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Does that mean a respectable well-conducted man of fifty?
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
“But about the respectable business first,” said my aunt.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
His property here, his place, his house, every thing is in such respectable and excellent condition!—and his woods!
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable figure.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A measured step was heard upon the stairs, and a moment later a stout, tall, grey-whiskered and solemnly respectable person was ushered into the room.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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