respectability
Americannoun
plural
respectabilities-
the state or quality of being respectable.
-
respectable social standing, character, or reputation.
-
a respectable person or persons.
-
respectabilities, things accepted as respectable.
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Bakary Sambe of the Timbuktu Institute think-tank in Dakar told AFP that "Dicko is a figure who enjoys both religious respectability and popular support".
From Barron's • Jan. 14, 2026
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 • Oct. 17, 2025
It often arrives dressed in intellectual respectability framed as concern, skepticism or “just asking questions.”
From Salon • Oct. 10, 2025
America's final-day comeback brought unexpected respectability to the final score, but also exposed how far the US lag behind Europe in their Ryder Cup efforts.
From BBC • Sep. 29, 2025
Them she bent toward respectability, and in so doing taught them fear: fear of being clumsy, fear of being like their father, fear of not being loved by God, fear of madness like Cholly’s mother’s.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
