polite
Americanadjective
adjective
-
showing regard for others, in manners, speech, behaviour, etc; courteous
-
cultivated or refined
polite society
-
elegant or polished
polite letters
Synonym Usage
See civil.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of polite
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin polītus, past participle of polīre “to polish”; see polish
Explanation
Polite means showing regards for others in manners, speech, and behavior. Since you are a polite dinner guest, you thank the host for inviting you and, even though you think the chicken is not cooked to perfection, you tell her you are enjoying the meal. The adjective polite comes from the mid-13th century Latin politus, which means "refined" or "elegant." Showing consideration for others, using tact, and observing social norms are the qualities of being polite. The opposite of polite is rude. Because the poet E.E. Cummings thought imagination is most important, he wrote, “Knowledge is a polite word for dead but not buried imagination.”
Vocabulary lists containing polite
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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:
Are we all going to have the same dolphin-smooth faces soon, with filler and face-lifts simply the price of admission for participating in polite society?
From Slate ● Sep. 2, 2026
A few months later, Bayoumi would introduce Ratchford to two apparently unassuming, "polite" men, who would also become her neighbours.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
Paramedics in Japan have a problem — polite homeowners rearranging their shoes.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
Modifying weights can make a model more polite, sassier or more prone to hallucination.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Charles Kalme, a Latvian-born sixteen-year-old, was a handsome and polite boy who’d spent years in a displaced persons’ camp and was the reigning U.S.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
An 18-year-old woman said ghosting was “a little bit politer way to reject someone than to directly say, ‘I do not want to chat with you.’
From Washington Post ● Jul. 25, 2022
And the video has so many star cameos it feels like a politer version of that misbegotten cover of “Imagine.”
From Slate ● Jun. 12, 2020
They wield illusory credits and debits, pecuniary symbols of wealth, all the better to club their opponents into a politer businesslike submission.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2019
She admires various classical and modern dancers and choreographers and works, but her own dancers enact a brash and pitiless system of movement that disdains and subverts politer forms.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 22, 2015
‘Don’t believe what strangers say of themselves either! I am not a fighter. But it would be politer in any case for the challenger to say who he is.’
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
The 20-year-old said she had only positive interactions with some of the men who live at the hotel, who she describes as "the politest people".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2025
“The politest way is to enlist the aid of the flight attendants,” says Jodi RR Smith, an etiquette consultant.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
The journalist Stanley Booth, in his book “The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones,” about the glory and the depravity of the band’s 1969 American tour, described Watts as “the world’s politest man.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 24, 2021
When confronted about these statements by a reporter, McCain defended the use of the term, saying it was the politest term he could think of.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2021
They owed to him their two or three politest puzzles; and the joy and exultation with which at last he recalled, and rather sentimentally recited, that well-known charade,
From "Emma" by Jane Austen
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.
