Academic Dictionary
Home / Thesaurus / Decency
Find the word that fits

Decency: alternatives and connections

Begin with the reviewed alternatives, then explore broader connections without treating every related word as an automatic substitute.

Try an example: important law show help change happy
26,102 words currently have published synonym-style alternatives
90,593 searchable synonym connections
350,924 published thesaurus relationships of every type
Start with the meaning

Decency

The quality or state of being decent, suitable, or becoming, in words or behavior; propriety of form in social intercourse, in actions, or in discourse; proper formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty.

View the full dictionary entry Compare this word with another →
47 useful connections shown 8 reviewed relationships and 39 broader connections.
Best place to begin

Reviewed alternatives and contrasts

These links were deliberately created. Use the interchangeability score and guidance to judge whether a word will work in your sentence.

Narrower term 1

Modesty 76% connected

The quality or state of being modest; that lowly temper which accompanies a moderate estimate of one's own worth and importance; absence of self-asse…

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a narrower or more specific lexical category.

Definition Compare both words

Broader term 3

Properness 76% connected

The quality of being proper.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a broader lexical category for at least one sense.

Definition Compare both words
Propriety 76% connected

Individual right to hold property; ownership by personal title; property.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a broader lexical category for at least one sense.

Definition Compare both words
Respectability 76% connected

The state or quality of being respectable; the state or quality which deserves or commands respect.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a broader lexical category for at least one sense.

Definition Compare both words

Derivationally related 2

Decent 74% connected

Suitable in words, behavior, dress, or ceremony; becoming; fit; decorous; proper; seemly; as, decent conduct; decent language.

oewn 2023 15% interchangeable

Open English WordNet records a derivational relationship between these word forms.

Definition Compare both words
Decent 74% connected

Suitable in words, behavior, dress, or ceremony; becoming; fit; decorous; proper; seemly; as, decent conduct; decent language.

oewn 2023 15% interchangeable

Open English WordNet records a derivational relationship between these word forms.

Definition Compare both words

Antonym 2

Indecency 94% connected

The quality or state of being indecent; want of decency, modesty, or good manners; obscenity.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet records these words as lexical opposites.

Definition Compare both words
Indecency 94% connected

The quality or state of being indecent; want of decency, modesty, or good manners; obscenity.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet records these words as lexical opposites.

Definition Compare both words
Explore further

Words connected by meaning

Their definitions overlap or refer to similar ideas. Use these to widen your search, then compare the exact meanings.

Adultery noun · 78% connection

The unfaithfulness of a married person to the marriage bed; sexual intercourse by a married man with another than his wife, or volunta…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Befitting adjective · 78% connection

Suitable; proper; becoming; fitting.

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Benthamism noun · 78% connection

That phase of the doctrine of utilitarianism taught by Jeremy Bentham; the doctrine that the morality of actions is estimated and dete…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Boycott noun · 78% connection

The process, fact, or pressure of boycotting; a combining to withhold or prevent dealing or social intercourse with a tradesman, emplo…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Charity noun · 78% connection

Liberality in judging of men and their actions; a disposition which inclines men to put the best construction on the words and actions…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Comely superl. · 78% connection

Suitable or becoming; proper; agreeable.

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Communicate verb · 78% connection

To have intercourse or to be the means of intercourse; as, to communicate with another on business; to be connected; as, a communicati…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Communion noun · 78% connection

Intercourse between two or more persons; esp., intimate association and intercourse implying sympathy and confidence; interchange of t…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Continent adjective · 78% connection

Abstaining from sexual intercourse; exercising restraint upon the sexual appetite; esp., abstaining from illicit sexual intercourse; c…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Convenient verb · 78% connection

Fit or adapted; suitable; proper; becoming; appropriate.

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Cool superl. · 78% connection

Quietly impudent; negligent of propriety in matters of minor importance, either ignorantly or willfully; presuming and selfish; audaci…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Correct adjective · 78% connection

Set right, or made straight; hence, conformable to truth, rectitude, or propriety, or to a just standard; not faulty or imperfect; fre…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Correspond verb · 78% connection

To have intercourse or communion; especially, to hold intercourse or to communicate by sending and receiving letters; -- followed by w…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Correspondence noun · 78% connection

Friendly intercourse; reciprocal exchange of civilities; especially, intercourse between persons by means of letters.

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Decorous adjective · 78% connection

Suitable to a character, or to the time, place, and occasion; marked with decorum; becoming; proper; seemly; befitting; as, a decorous…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Decorum noun · 78% connection

Propriety of manner or conduct; grace arising from suitableness of speech and behavior to one's own character, or to the place and occ…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Deformity adjective · 78% connection

Anything that destroys beauty, grace, or propriety; irregularity; absurdity; gross deviation from order or the established laws of pro…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
Delicacy adjective · 78% connection

Nice propriety of manners or conduct; susceptibility or tenderness of feeling; refinement; fastidiousness; and hence, in an exaggerate…

Its definition shares important concepts with this word: decent, suitable, becoming, words, behavior.
Definition Compare
All dictionary tools

Explore Academic Dictionary

The same nine destinations available from the header menu are shown here as a clear, fully visible grid.

Dictionary Definitions and meanings Thesaurus Synonyms with nuance Academic writing Evidence and analysis Professional Workplace vocabulary Word origins Etymology and roots Subjects Specialist dictionaries Word clusters Connected vocabulary Word similarity Compare two words Crossword Play with vocabulary