respectability

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English

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Etymology

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From respect +‎ -ability.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɹɪˌspɛktəˈbɪlɪti/

Noun

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respectability (usually uncountable, plural respectabilities)

  1. The quality of being respectable.
    • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate [], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, [], →OCLC:
      Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: [] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.
    • 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport:
      But once again Hodgson's men found a way to get the result they required and there is a real air of respectability about their campaign even though they had to survive a first-half siege from a Ukraine side desperate for the win they needed to progress.
  2. The class of respectable people.

Derived terms

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Translations

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