Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The state or quality of being decent; propriety.
  • noun Conformity to prevailing standards of propriety or modesty.
  • noun Social or moral proprieties.
  • noun Surroundings or services deemed necessary for an acceptable standard of living.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or quality of being decent, fit, suitable, or becoming; propriety of action, speech, dress, etc.; proper formality; becoming ceremony; modesty; specifically, freedom from ribaldry or obscenity.
  • noun That which is decent or becoming.
  • noun Synonyms Decorum, suitableness, neatness, purity, delicacy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being decent, suitable, or becoming, in words or behavior; propriety of form in social intercourse, in actions, or in discourse; proper formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty.
  • noun That which is proper or becoming.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the quality of being decent; propriety
  • noun That which is proper or becoming.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the quality of being polite and respectable
  • noun the quality of conforming to standards of propriety and morality

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin decentia, from decens: compare French décence. See decent.

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