decorous

English

Etymology

From Latin decōrus (“seemly, becoming”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛkəɹəs/

• Audio (Southern England)

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Adjective

decorous (comparative more decorous, superlative most decorous)

1. Marked by proper behaviour.

   Antonym: indecorous

   • 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Animadversions on Some of the Writers who have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, , published 1792, →OCLC, section III, page 174:

     The narrovv path of truth and virtue inclines neither to the right nor left—it is a ſtraightforvvard buſineſs, and they vvho are earneſtly purſuing their road, may bound over many decorous prejudices, vvithout leaving modeſty behind.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter LXI, in Vanity Fair , London: Bradbury and Evans , published 1848, →OCLC:

     There came a day when the round of decorous pleasures and solemn gaieties in which Mr. Jos Sedley’s family indulged was interrupted by an event which happens in most houses.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLIII, in The Moon and Sixpence, : Grosset & Dunlap Publishers , →OCLC:

     But who can fathom the subtleties of the human heart? Certainly not those who expect from it only decorous sentiments and normal emotions.

   • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter I, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:

     The green eyes in the carefully sweet face were turbulent, willful, lusty with life, distinctly at variance with her decorous demeanor.

Derived terms

• decorously
• decorousness

Translations