comport
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
comports,
present (3rd person singular)
-
comported,
past participle, past
-
comporting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
comports,
present (3rd person singular)
-
comported,
past participle, past
-
comporting
present participle
noun
noun
verb
-
(tr) to conduct or bear (oneself) in a specified way
-
to agree (with); correspond (to)
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
comportsimple
-
comportssimple
-
have comportedperfect
-
has comportedperfect
-
am comportingprogressive
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are comportingprogressive
-
is comportingprogressive
-
have been comportingperfect progressive
-
has been comportingperfect progressive
Past
-
comportedsimple
-
had comportedperfect
-
was comportingprogressive
-
were comportingprogressive
-
had been comportingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of comport1
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French comporter < Latin comportāre to transport, equivalent to com- com- + portāre to port 5
Origin of comport2
1765–75; alteration of French compotier a dish for compote; see -ier 2
Explanation
Comport means to behave, and particularly to behave well. If you attend a school for social etiquette, you will learn how to comport yourself properly at the dinner table. You’ll usually find comport in one of two phrases: with yourself, himself, etc., as in, "With all that burping, you did not comport yourself well at Aunt Edna’s party," or with the word with. When you see the second version, comport means something more like agree. For example, you could say, "I don’t think your ripped jeans and beat up t-shirt really comport with the guidelines for Casual Friday."
Vocabulary lists containing comport
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"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" by Patrick Henry (1775)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Through his cellmate, Gershkovich learned the rules of Russian prison life, including how to perform various bodily functions in the cramped cell and how to comport himself with other inmates to stay safe.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Food makers have long tweaked their recipes and rolled out new products to comport with changing government regulations and consumer preferences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
"They were very much Team Mick and I think they were coming at it from the generational side, where it was like, 'That is not the way that you comport yourself, and it's disrespectful.'"
From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2026
But he urged the lower courts to “carefully consider whether the existing standards comport with the Constitution.”
From Slate ● Jun. 12, 2025
It stops being about the color of your skin after a while and starts being about how you comport yourself.
From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon
Their thesis certainly comports with recent market action.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
But this only comports with the science as we’ve known it for decades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
In the same case, the federal government has argued that the agreement comports with federal law, which it said “generally restricts the IRS from disclosing any tax return information” but provides for certain exceptions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2025
This more or less comports with the experience of my grandmother, my mother and me.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2023
She nods; what I’ve just said, for whatever reason, comports with what she knows of her son.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Biggs opened the door for a trial when the state Supreme Court determined the photo ID law comported with the state constitution.
From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2024
On Saturday, Harry comported himself gracefully and gave the British tabloids, forever in search of more outrage fuel, little to complain about.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2023
The team is unhappy with the player’s performance — and in some cases, how he has comported himself as its longest-tenured member after Stephen Strasburg.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 17, 2023
Professor Davison discovered, however, that the equation was a misprint and that what Orwell originally wrote was “2 + 2 = 5,” which comported with Big Brother’s Newspeak.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2022
Old Abraham, who was not old at all but who had comported himself in the manner of an elderly misanthrope since he first learned to sit up.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Scott and Goba did a fine job of pushing back at the most ridiculous lies, generally comporting themselves and the profession well.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2024
“I’m a practicing Catholic, and it is the biggest dilemma for me in terms of comporting my religious and cultural views with my political responsibility,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in April 2007.
From Washington Post ● May 3, 2022
So it is like, “Well, are you a court? Because this sounds a lot like a court but you’re not exactly comporting yourself as a court.”
From The Verge ● May 11, 2021
Even if she doesn’t agree with them, she’s comporting with them.
From Slate ● Apr. 22, 2021
But the calm pursuits of peace not comporting with the ardour of his mind, he relinquished the fair prospect of professional emolument, and accepted a captaincy in Buford's regiment.
From A Sketch of the life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion and a history of his brigade by William Dobein James
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
