discourtesy
Americannoun
-
discourtesies
plural
-
lack or breach of courtesy; incivility; rudeness.
-
a discourteous or impolite act.
noun
-
bad manners; rudeness
-
a rude remark or act
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of discourtesy
Explanation
Discourtesy is acting in a rude or thoughtless way. If you yell orders at your restaurant server and leave him a small tip, you're treating him with extreme discourtesy. The noun discourtesy is a formal way to say "rudeness" or "disrespect." Cutting in line, interrupting others, chewing with your mouth wide open, being late for an important meeting — these are all examples of discourtesy. Courtesy means "elegance of manners" or "politeness," from a root meaning "courtly manners." When you add the prefix dis-, "the opposite of," you get discourtesy.
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:
"Uttering such words under the guise of a 'joke' or humour does not mitigate this discourtesy displayed toward our women and a specific segment of our society," he wrote.
From Barron's ● Jun. 6, 2026
Well, that discourtesy seems to have been forgotten, with the 75-year-old poised to step in as interim manager at Pittodrie for the rest of the season.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2024
A vice foreign minister called in Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming and strongly protested what South Korea called "diplomatic discourtesy", the South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement.
From Reuters ● Apr. 20, 2023
Between January 2017 and November 2020, 829 complaints, internal and external, were lodged against Tacoma police employees, most for unsatisfactory performance or discourtesy.
From Seattle Times ● May 8, 2022
The Indian Summer was within their grasp, gossip was silenced, discourtesy put down.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
The movie chokes on its own dreary discourtesies.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2011
Many knowing Burmese were forced to hide a snicker when they heard that Chou had filed an official complaint about discourtesies appearing in the Burmese press.
From Time Magazine Archive
C. Bagley, Teachers College, Columbia University, staunch worker for the Sterling-Reed Bill, evoked "a storm of applause" by denouncing Democratic and Republican discourtesies to education.
From Time Magazine Archive
You note the weaknesses of officialdom, the discourtesies, the disregard and lack of respect for the people.
From Time Magazine Archive
The little courtesies of the world and the little discourtesies became snobbish to him.
From Thackeray by Anthony Trollope
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.
