Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of respectful Like a mirthful wake, the mood was reflective, respectful — and celebratory. Emma Bowman, NPR, 23 June 2025 Nelson recommends both friends laying down their swords and starting a respectful, ideally private, dialogue. Charles Trepany, USA Today, 21 June 2025 Here’s what to know to be a respectful and resourceful plant propagator, not a thief. Leanne Potts, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 June 2025 Wild horse tours provide an off-road, closer look at the free-roaming horses originally brought from Spain while maintaining a safe and respectful distance. Kate Lewis, New York Times, 19 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for respectful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for respectful
Adjective
  • The Ptolemaic model depicted planets moving around Earth in a big circle, known as a deferent, then going around a smaller circle while retrograding, called an epicycle.
    Carlie Procell, USA TODAY, 25 Nov. 2024
  • The Ptolemaic model depicted planets moving around Earth in a big circle, known as a deferent, then going around a smaller circle while retrograding, called an epicycle.
    Carlie Procell, USA Today, 19 Apr. 2023
Adjective
  • Anne Hathaway’s Lureen, all rodeo sparkle and small-town ambition, is Jack’s half-hearted refuge; her final scene is a master class in polite denial, her eyes steel behind a frosty Texas drawl.
    Philip Martin, Arkansas Online, 27 June 2025
  • Fittingly, a green laser shined out into the crowd as attendees turned from polite listeners to a rowdy mosh pit, singing every word.
    Ellise Shafer, Variety, 27 June 2025
Adjective
  • West's playing here is precise, reverent, never indulgent.
    Philip Martin, Arkansas Online, 19 June 2025
  • Craig is self-reflective while being appropriately reverent to the tropes of the genre.
    Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 9 May 2025
Adjective
  • Chief Justice Roberts 'wrong,' courts should be 'deferential' The Trump administration's mass deportation efforts have repeatedly hit legal challenges.
    Victoria Moorwood, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025
  • The appeals court applied the most deferential level of review, rational basis, and found that the requirement satisfied it.
    June 27, CBS News, 27 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Respectful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/respectful. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.

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