decent
decent Lexical Profile
decent Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Of an acceptable or satisfactory standard, quality, or amount.
"After months of searching, she finally secured a position that offered a decent salary and good benefits."
Conforming with generally accepted standards of respectable, moral, or appropriate behavior.
"Every citizen in a democratic society deserves to be treated with decent respect and fairness."
Kind, obliging, or generous toward others.
"It was remarkably decent of the landlord to waive the late fee while the tenant recovered from surgery."
Sufficiently clothed to be seen in public or by visitors.
"He knocked gently on the bedroom door and waited to make sure everyone inside was decent before entering."
Word Nuance & Usage
Frequently confused in spelling with 'descent' (meaning a downward movement or ancestry) and 'dissent' (meaning disagreement). In informal usage, 'decent' is also used predicatively to mean sufficiently clothed to receive visitors ('Are you decent?').
• Rhymes for decent
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the 16th century from Middle French décent or directly from Latin decens, the present participle of decere ('to be fitting or suitable'), which also gave English 'decorum' and 'decorate'.