respectability
Americannoun
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respectabilities
plural
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the state or quality of being respectable.
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respectable social standing, character, or reputation.
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a respectable person or persons.
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respectabilities, things accepted as respectable.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonrespectabilitynoun
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prerespectabilitynoun
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semirespectabilitynoun
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superrespectabilitynoun
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unrespectabilitynoun
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of respectability
First recorded in 1775–85; respectable + -ity
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:
This last-minute legitimization would later allow Sand to legally inherit her father’s estate; it also established the uneasy balance between respectability and impropriety that would come to dominate her life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
"The picture they tried to present to the outside world was one of respectability," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Spoofs like best musical nominee “Titanique,” a zany burlesque of James Cameron’s “Titanic” and all things Celine Dion, found new respectability on Broadway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
One of Christianity’s deepest convictions is that social standing, respectability and material recognition are not the measures of a life.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026
We could even charge a premium because we added that layer of respectability to the transaction.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
His neuroticism, although he learned to control it. left him with a lifelong terror of going beyond the "cleanly respectabilities."
From Time Magazine Archive
Torquay is the chosen home of the proprieties, the respectabilities, and all the conventions.
From Sacred and Profane Love by Arnold Bennett
One great source of perplexity in the case, is the excessive urbanity of the imperfect respectabilities themselves.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 431 Volume 17, New Series, April 3, 1852 by William Chambers
It is not reckless of conduct, but surely enormously reckless of decorum, with its conventions and respectabilities clustering around the status quo.
From The Invisible Censor by Francis Hackett
Your eyes betrayed it, and the corners of your mouth went up the least little bit, as if they'd go further up before they went down—as if you'd laugh away many solemn respectabilities.
From The Seeker by Harry Leon Wilson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
