polite
Americanadjective
adjective
-
showing regard for others, in manners, speech, behaviour, etc; courteous
-
cultivated or refined
polite society
-
elegant or polished
polite letters
Synonym Usage
See civil.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of polite
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin polītus, past participle of polīre “to polish”; see polish
Explanation
Polite means showing regards for others in manners, speech, and behavior. Since you are a polite dinner guest, you thank the host for inviting you and, even though you think the chicken is not cooked to perfection, you tell her you are enjoying the meal. The adjective polite comes from the mid-13th century Latin politus, which means "refined" or "elegant." Showing consideration for others, using tact, and observing social norms are the qualities of being polite. The opposite of polite is rude. Because the poet E.E. Cummings thought imagination is most important, he wrote, “Knowledge is a polite word for dead but not buried imagination.”
Vocabulary lists containing polite
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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:
Be polite: Don't just launch in with "I'm on annual leave".
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Some will say yes enthusiastically, and others will say yes because they’re being polite.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
He leads from behind, they say, which is a polite way of saying he lets the ball and the trophies do the talking.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
Perhaps more polite and compliant nations could make their peace with that arrangement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
“We could play Sorry! or Parcheesi or Clue,” she continued, but Twig only ever asks to seem polite.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
An 18-year-old woman said ghosting was “a little bit politer way to reject someone than to directly say, ‘I do not want to chat with you.’
From Washington Post ● Jul. 25, 2022
And the video has so many star cameos it feels like a politer version of that misbegotten cover of “Imagine.”
From Slate ● Jun. 12, 2020
They wield illusory credits and debits, pecuniary symbols of wealth, all the better to club their opponents into a politer businesslike submission.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2019
She admires various classical and modern dancers and choreographers and works, but her own dancers enact a brash and pitiless system of movement that disdains and subverts politer forms.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 22, 2015
“I’d be politer, if I was you, to the man with the glamry blade.”
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Ebert, also 39, is the politest, a kind force who, 17 years later, remains the new guy after Johnson and Knobbe formed the band a year before.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
“The politest way is to enlist the aid of the flight attendants,” says Jodi RR Smith, an etiquette consultant.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
This was an extended hand from a man I have come to think of as my politest critic.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 2, 2019
Researchers have detailed the difficulty of confronting prejudice, but they have also found that even the politest of objections – or subtle corrections to loaded words – can almost instantly curb a speaker’s behavior.
From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2016
He remembered no intervening time, no sore feet—but here he was, addressing in the politest terms an old lady who stood in the doorway of a flat-fronted terraced house.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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.
