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Decorous Got Its Start With Etiquette
One of the earliest recorded uses of decorous appears in a book titled The Rules of Civility (1673): “It is not decorous to look in the Glass, to comb, brush, or do any thing of that nature to ourselves, whilst the said person be in the Room.” This rule of thumb may be a bit outdated; like many behaviors once deemed unbecoming, public primping is unlikely to offend in modern times. Though mores shift, decorous lives on to describe timeless courtesies like polite speech, proper attire, and (ahem) covering one’s cough.
Examples of decorous in a Sentence
Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 30 Aug. 2025
The cost of parties, marketing, shipping, insurance, and the decorous administration of nearly five hundred sales a year only ever drifts one way.
—Sam Knight, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
The teenager, who spoke in hushed, decorous bursts, had months earlier shot rats near a friend’s camp in Manchac, dressed the carcasses (an intricate process, given the animal’s size), and frozen their haunches.
—Nathaniel Rich, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
Their decorous representations of the war and republic are reassuring, especially to modern eyes, in their romanticized heroism.
—Literary Hub, 17 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for decorous
Cite this Entry
“Decorous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decorous. Accessed 19 Sep. 2025.
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decorous
adjective
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