discourteous

American  

[dis-kur-tee-uhs] / dɪsˈkɜr ti əs /

adjective

1. not courteous; impolite; uncivil; rude.

   a discourteous salesman.

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discourteous British  

/ dɪsˈkɜːtɪəs /

adjective

1. showing bad manners; impolite; rude

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Other Word Forms

• discourteously adverb
• discourteousness noun

Etymology

Origin of discourteous

First recorded in 1570–80; dis- ¹ + courteous

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.

Example Sentences

What we don’t have time for is all the ridiculous ways we allow precious minutes to die from wanton distraction or discourteous delays.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

"That would be discourteous towards the Russian Federation," he said.

From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026

The panel said he also engaged in a pattern of improper remarks that “were discourteous and gave the appearance of bias to a crime victim, prospective jurors, defendants, attorneys and others.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 5, 2025

Her assessment of his political skills may have been prescient but it was not well received by some of her parliamentary colleagues who regarded it as disloyal and discourteous.

From BBC • Apr. 30, 2024

In the end, he simply said that the tone of the letter was aggressive and discourteous and for that reason the prime minister did not answer it.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela