duteous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of duteous
Explanation
To be duteous is to be conscious of your duties and diligent in performing them. A duteous employee gets to work on time, meets every deadline, and never gossips about the boss. A duty is a responsibility or obligation, so to be duteous is to be mindful of one’s duties. A doctor who makes a home visit is duteous. A waiter who is quick and accurate is duteous. Being duteous suggests diligence and respect for the task at hand. In some professions — like being a butler — the whole job is based on being duteous, but you can be duteous in any task you take seriously.
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.
Exception 3.—Final y is sometimes changed into e: as, duty + ous = duteous; beauty + ous = beauteous.
From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton
Wallmoden narrated this with the same cold contempt which he had shown to Hartmut, and the same horror and aversion were pictured in the face of his sister--that strictly duteous and moral lady.
From The Sign of Flame by Werner, E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers)
The watchman of the seas leaves not the coast, duteous in his lonely cares; while Beowulf, with his companions, marches onwards.
From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Disraeli, Isaac
All promise is poor dilatory man, And that through every stage: when young, indeed, In full content we, sometimes, nobly rest, Unanxious for ourselves; and only wish, As duteous sons, our fathers were more wise.
From Young's Night Thoughts With Life, Critical Dissertation and Explanatory Notes by Young, Edward
Fearless, unfear'd, her husband caress'd his duteous bride.
From The Nibelungenlied Revised Edition by Unknown
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.
