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
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have comportedperfect
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has comportedperfect
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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
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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:
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
"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
Lastly, my mother began teaching me how to comport myself in polite society.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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
This comports with what researchers know about people who become radicalized.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 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
Reiner, though, 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
A hard-bitten New York intellectual of the old stripe, Gilman spoke with a smoker’s rasp, enjoyed a drink and comported himself like a rakish pirate in a denim jacket.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 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
With a place in Sunday’s final at stake, Kyrgios comported himself well against Ymer.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 6, 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.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2024
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
As Wolfe tells it, Everett discovered that the stripped-down Pirahã language lacked recursion, comporting with a simple, here-and-now lifestyle that ignored the past and the future.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 31, 2016
In a word, in comporting to the standard a dog is produced that possesses a harmonious whole, “a thing of beauty” and a joy as long as he lives.
From The Boston Terrier and All About It A Practical, Scientific, and Up to Date Guide to the Breeding of the American Dog by Edward Axtell
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.
