See Also: respectable(dictionary)
respectable(dictionary)
RESPECTABLE WITNESS(law)

respectable (iou)



respectable adjective & noun. L16.
[from RESPECT noun + -ABLE. Cf. French respectable.]
A. adjective.
Deserving notice, observation, or consideration. rare. L16-E17.
Deserving respect. L16.
J. Langhorne Thucydides was a great and respectable man. Gibbon Rendered his administration respectable in the eyes of..his subjects.
Of a person: of good or fair social status, having qualities associated with such status; honest and decent in character or conduct; conventional in behaviour and attitudes. M18.
Day Lewis A Welsh pirate who..became a respectable wine-merchant. D. Macdonald The young Joyce was considered immoral by respectable Dublin. L. Woolf No respectable printer would have anything to do with it.
b. Characteristic of or associated with people of such status or character; socially acceptable, conventional. M18.
J. Marsh The Old Kent Road, although respectable, was not a high-class area. F. Kaplan He had elevated himself to a respectable position.
c. Of decent or presentable appearance. L18.
N. Blake He..puts on more respectable clothes.
Commendatory; creditable; of a good or superior kind. M18-E19.
Considerable in number, size, quantity, etc. M18.
P. G. Wodehouse That extra..raised his salary to a very respectable figure.
Of comparative excellence; tolerable, passable, fairly good or competent. L18.
N. Hawthorne It is at best but a respectable production.
b. noun. A respectable person. E19.
respectably adverb in a respectable manner; to a respectable degree: L18.