respectable

respectable

English

Etymology

respect +‎ -able

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): [ɹɪ.ˈspɛk.tə.bl̩]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

respectable (comparative more respectable, superlative most respectable)

1. Deserving respect.

   His accomplishments, morals, loyalty, and stature make him a respectable person.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619:

     In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. In this way all respectable burgesses, down to fifty years ago, spent their evenings.

2. Decent; satisfactory.

   Turn up to the interview wearing something respectable.  She plays a respectable game of chess.  He got a respectable B+ on his last exam.

3. Moderately well-to-do.

Synonyms

• honorable

Antonyms

• contemptible
• despicable
• disrespectable

Related terms

• respectability
• respectabilize
• respectably

Translations

deserving respect

Arabic: محترم‎ Bulgarian: почтен (bg) (počten), уважаван (bg) (uvažavan) Catalan: respectable (ca) Cherokee: ᎠᏥᎸᏉᏗ (atsilvquodi) Chinese: Mandarin: 受人尊敬的 (shòu rén zūnjìng de), 可敬 (zh) (kějìng), 體面的／体面的 (zh) (tǐmiàn de), 尊貴／尊贵 (zh) (zūnguì) Czech: vážený (cs) m, úctyhodný (cs) m Danish: respektabel (da) Esperanto: respektinda Finnish: kunnioitettava (fi) French: respectable (fr) Galician: respectable (gl) German: angesehen (de), geachtet (de) Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌹𐌿𐌸𐍃 (gariuþs) Ido: respektinda (io) Japanese: 尊ぶべき (ja) (tōtobu beki) Latin: reverendus (la) Norman: respectabl'ye Polish: godny szacunku Portuguese: respeitável (pt) Romanian: respectabil (ro) Russian: уважа́емый (ru) (uvažájemyj), почте́нный (ru) (počténnyj), респекта́бельный (ru) (respektábelʹnyj) Sanskrit: प्रमुख (sa) (pramukha) Spanish: respetable (es) Telugu: మర్యాదైన (maryādaina)

decent; satisfactory

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: приличен (bg) (priličen), приемлив (bg) (priemliv) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Finnish: kelvollinen (fi), kunnollinen (fi) French: convenable (fr), (informal) pas mal (fr) Portuguese: razoável (pt)

Noun

respectable (plural respectables)

1. A person who is respectable.
   • 1872, Thomas Cooper, The Life of Thomas Cooper (page 221)

     They forced their way into the meetings called by the respectables; and the respectables disappeared. It was of their own respectable good pleasure that they withdrew.

   • 2014, Mitchell Duneier, ‎Philip Kasinitz, ‎Alexandra Murphy, The Urban Ethnography Reader (page 38)

     The “respectables”, then, impute to themselves an absence of such character blemishes, or stated in more positive terms, an allegiance to American mainstream morality.

See also

• respectful
• respective

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /rəs.pəkˈta.blə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /res.pekˈta.ble/

Adjective

respectable (masculine and feminine plural respectables)

1. respectable

Derived terms

• respectabilitat

Related terms

• respectar

Further reading

• “respectable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “respectable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “respectable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “respectable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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French

Etymology

respect +‎ -able

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɛs.pɛk.tabl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: respectables
• Hyphenation: res‧pec‧table

Adjective

respectable (plural respectables)

1. respectable

Derived terms

• respectablement

Further reading

• “respectable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Galician

Alternative forms

• respectábel

Adjective

respectable m or f (plural respectables)

1. respectable

Derived terms

• respectabilidade

Related terms

• respectar

Further reading

• “respectable” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.