discourteous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of discourteous
Explanation
If you're rude or inconsiderate, you're discourteous. It would be discourteous to invite only four of your classmates to your party in front of the whole class. Burping on purpose, pushing your way to the front of a line, failing to send a thank you note for a generous gift, deliberately hurting someone's feelings, or failing to bow when you meet the Queen: these are all discourteous ways of behaving. When you're courteous, you have excellent manners and you're very thoughtful. Add the prefix dis-, meaning "lack of," and you get discourteous.
Vocabulary lists containing discourteous
Power Prefix: dis-
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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.
Discourteous is not a description usually applied to Anderson.
From Washington Post • Apr. 15, 2015
In the Spencer Hotel, Marion, Ind.: "Discourteous treatment, by the waiters, if reported to the proprietor, will be greatly appreciated."
From More Toasts by Mosher, Marion Dix
Discourteous dog! why did you not answer when I called to know if the passage was fit to be attempted?
From Quentin Durward by Scott, Walter, Sir
Then cometh a sad day, when with a poignant sting Lost opportunities shall speak to us reproachfully; And ours shall be the disapproval of the King— "Discourteous to these, my creatures, ye have wounded Me."
From Poems Vol. IV by Howard, Hattie
"Discourteous lubber, to call such a queen of beauty a country wench!"
From The Prince and the Page; a story of the last crusade by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
Definitions 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.
