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
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has comportedperfect
-
am comportingprogressive
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are comportingprogressive
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is comportingprogressive
-
have been comportingperfect progressive
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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:
That assessment doesn’t comport with the reality of the comic’s three lackluster appearances as guest host.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
McConnell, an appointee of Democratic president Barack Obama, said it was not his role to rule on "the wisdom of the government's policy choices" but to determine whether they "comport with the law."
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
Reed next tried to convince federal courts that construing the statute that way did not comport with the fundamental fairness required by the 14th Amendment’s due process clause.
From Slate ● Mar. 27, 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
“And you, E’lir Kvothe, will comport yourself with more decorum in the future.”
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Their thesis certainly comports with recent market action.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
First, they found a 4% decline in employment of undocumented workers, which comports with employer reports that raids have prompted immigrant workers to stop showing up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
This comports with the star’s understanding of how the world works based on the wealth she’s spun out of industrialized fame.
From Salon ● Nov. 6, 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
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
Reiner was a unique blend of ace entertainer and director, playing to a personality type that comported with who he was when he wasn’t in front of or behind a camera.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2025
Caryl Carota, 81, said she thought four or five of the women comported themselves well and seemed to have caught the eye of the bachelor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2023
None has been compelled to testify in civil or criminal court — or even explain in public what happened, why the officers opened fire, and how their decisions comported, or did not, with department procedures.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 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
How Barack and I comported ourselves in the face of instability mattered.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Scott and Goba did a fine job of pushing back at the most ridiculous lies, generally comporting themselves and the profession.
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
They've had a lovers' quarrel," explained Lord George to Dick, "which accounts for her comporting herself so amiably to us.
From The Road to Paris by Robert Neilson Stephens
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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.
