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''decorous'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250718235902-00-⌔

decorous - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

decorous (comparative more decorous, superlative most decorous)

  • Marked by behaviour, manners, etc., regarded as proper, tasteful, and in accordance with accepted standards; becoming, seemly.
    • ✤ Synonyms: (obsolete) becomed, (UK, dialectal) menseful; see also Thesaurus: virtuous
    • ✤ Antonyms: (obsolete) dedecorous, indecorous, undecorous
    • ✤ 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.1
    • ✤ [S]ome grumbling voice,/Which now and then will make a slight inroad/Upon decorous silence, […]2
    • ✤ 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.3
    • ✤ On these beautiful moonlight nights, Rome appears to keep awake and stirring, though in a quiet and decorous way.4
    • ✤ To this Defensio Wordsworth afterward added a supplement, and the two form a treatise of permanent value for philosophic statement and decorous English.5
    • ✤ But who can fathom the subtleties of the human heart? Certainly not those who expect from it only decorous sentiments and normal emotions.6
    • ✤ The green eyes in the carefully sweet face were turbulent, willful, lusty with life, distinctly at variance with her decorous demeanor.7
  • (obsolete) Appropriate, suitable.
    • ✤ Synonyms: see Thesaurus: suitable
    • ✤ Antonyms: see Thesaurus: unsuitable
    • ✤ [B]oth the truth vvhich the Prophecy aims at is faithfully conveyed, and that decorous embelliſhment in the external Cortex of the Prophecy punctually obſerved.8
    • ✤ And it is no vvonder this falling Star or Comet ſhould be looked upon as ſo miſchievous to Rivers and VVaters, vvhen Natural Hiſtory ſpeaks of falling Comets that have drunk up vvhole Rivers; ſo decorous is the repreſentation.9
    • ✤ […] It is not ſo decorous in reſpect of God, that he ſhould αὐτουργεῖν ἅπαντα [autourgeîn hápanta], ſet his ovvn hand as it vvere to every vvork, and immediately do all the meaneſt and triflingſt things himſelf drudgingly, vvithout making uſe of any inferior or ſubordinate Miniſters.10

Etymology

From the following:11

  • Latin decōrus (“becoming, fitting, proper, suitable”) + English -ous (suffix adjectives denoting presence of a quality in any degree, typically an abundance). Decōrus is derived from decor (“elegrance, grace; charm beauty”) + -us (suffix forming adjectives); and decor is from decēre, the present active infinitive of decet (“to adorn; to be decent; to be proper or suitable”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ﹡deḱ- (“to perceive; to take”).
  • Possibly also influenced by Late Latin decorōsus (“beautiful; elegant”), from decoris + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of’ forming adjectives from nouns). Decoris is the genitive singular of decus (“beauty, grace, ornament, splendour; distinction, glory, honour”), from Proto-Indo-European ﹡déḱos (“that which is proper”), from ﹡deḱ- (see above).

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA: /ˈdɛkəɹəs/, /ˈdɛkɹəs/, (archaic)/dɪˈkɔːɹəs/12
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • Hyphenation: dec‧or‧ous
  • Rhymes: -ɔːɹəs

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 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: ↩

  2. 1822 October 15, Quevedo Redivivus [pseudonym; Lord Byron], “The Vision of Judgment”, in The Liberal. Verse and Prose from the South, 2nd edition, volume I, number I, London: […] John Hunt, […], published 1823, →OCLC, stanza XCV, page 35: ↩

  3. 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “In which Two Lights are Put Out”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 545: ↩

  4. 1858 April 25 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “April 25th [1858]”, in Passages from the French and Italian Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, London: Strahan & Co., […], published 1871, →OCLC, page 222: ↩

  5. 1876, James Russell Lowell, “Wordsworth”, in Among My Books. Second Series., Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 224: ↩

  6. 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLIII, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, page 223: ↩

  7. 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter I, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published June 1944, →OCLC, part I, page 3: ↩

  8. 1664, H[enry] More, chapter IV, in Synopsis Prophetica; or, The Second Part of the Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity: […], London: […] James Flesher, for William Morden […], →OCLC, book I, page 225: ↩

  9. 1680, Henry More, chapter VIII, in Apocalypsis Apocalypseos; or The Revelation of St John the Divine Unveiled. […], London: […] J. M. for J[ohn] Martyn, and W. Kettilby, […], →OCLC, paragraph 10, page 75: ↩

  10. 1691, John Ray, “The Cartesian Hypothesis Considered and Censured”, in The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC, page 39: ↩

  11. “decorous, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “decorous, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022. ↩

  12. “decorous, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “decorous, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022. ↩

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