Dictionary

respectability en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɹɪˌspɛktəˈbɪlɪti/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re- Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Italic *spekjō Latin speciō Latin respiciō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin respectus Old French respectbor. Middle English respect English respectdenom. English respect Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Italic *-ðlom Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Latin -tās Latin -abilitas Middle French -abletébor. Middle English -ablete English -ability English respectability From respect + -ability.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The quality of being respectable.
   • Though he knew it not, the subtle spirit of vagabondage had taken possession of his soul, and even of his hat, which seemed suddenly to have lost its original respectability, and acquired an air of dissoluteness. 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 76:
   • 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. 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 20 Aug 2020:
   • 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. 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
2. (uncountable, usually) The class of respectable people.

Forms

Deriveds

disrespectability · respectability politics · unrespectability · semirespectability

Translations (17)

it rispettabilità (quality of being respectable) · es respetabilidad (quality of being respectable) · ru респекта́бельность (quality of being respectable) · bg почтеност (quality of being respectable) · da respektabelhed (quality of being respectable) · nl respectabiliteit (quality of being respectable) · fi kunnioitettavuus (quality of being respectable) · ru почте́нность (quality of being respectable) · sv respektabilitet (quality of being respectable) · pl przyzwoitość (quality of being respectable) · it perbenismo (quality of being respectable) · bg порядъчност (quality of being respectable) · nl eerbiedwaardigheid (quality of being respectable) · io respektindeso (quality of being respectable) · pt respeitabilidade (quality of being respectable) · ro respectabilitate (quality of being respectable) · fr respectabilité (quality of being respectable)