respectability

American  

[ri-spek-tuh-bil-i-tee] / rɪˌspɛk təˈbɪl ɪ ti /

noun

PLURAL

respectabilities

1. the state or quality of being respectable.

2. respectable social standing, character, or reputation.

3. a respectable person or persons.

4. respectabilities, things accepted as respectable.

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Other Word Forms

• nonrespectability noun
• prerespectability noun
• semirespectability noun
• superrespectability noun
• unrespectability noun

Etymology

Origin of respectability

First recorded in 1775–85; respectable + -ity

Example Sentences

He later won election to the British Parliament, a marker of respectability.

From The Wall Street Journal

The 50-year-old's mask of respectability was ripped away in 2021 as an avalanche of testimonies piled up from women describing harrowing abuse he inflicted upon them.

From BBC

Mr. Carlson, by contrast, can be smooth and affable with an air of perfect respectability.

From The Wall Street Journal

Ms. Cheever began to understand that his stories came at least partly from the tension between his private feelings of shame and the effort to maintain his respectability as a literary grandee and paterfamilias.

From The Wall Street Journal

Williamson chose this route for “Unconventional” because he wanted to make an unabashedly queer relationship show “written without respectability politics in mind, so I’d need to find a different pathway.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• decency
• honesty
• propriety