respectabilityn.
/rᵻˌspɛktəˈbɪlᵻti/, U.S. /rəˌspɛktəˈbɪlᵻdi/, /riˌspɛktəˈbɪlᵻdi/ 1.
a. The state, condition, or fact of being respectable, esp. as regards character or social standing.In later use sometimes with depreciative connotations; cf. respectable adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [noun]
mund?c1250
steemc1330
greatnessc1410
substancec1425
importance1485
weight1521
moment1522
weightiness1530
importancy1531
importunance1546
import1548
reckoning1582
sequel1588
ponderosity1589
valure1594
consequence1597
significance1597
circumstance1599
consequent1599
eminency1622
importmenta1625
concernment1626
consideration1634
telling1636
signification1645
considerableness1647
concerningness1657
nearness1679
significancy1679
respectability1769
interest1809
noteworthiness1852
portee1893
valency1897
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > good repute > reputability or honourableness > [noun] > respectability
respectableness1750
decency1751
sponsibility1767
respectability1769
white-chokerism1858
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [noun] > conscious respectability
self-righteousness1574
smugness1883
respectability1907
smuggery1928
1769 Gazetteer & New Daily Advertiser 11 Nov. If you mean to pay any regard to the happiness of the public, or that those kingdoms should continue their sameness of respectability, which another war or two may with no little probability cause to be insuperable, unless it should be proved, that [etc.].
1775 A. Lee 2nd Appeal to Justice & Interests of People 12 I will make no comment on the number or respectability of these petitions.
1778 Considerations on Breed & Managem. Horses 120 Pool..is..daily increasing in wealth in the number and respectability of its inhabitants.
1802 J. West Infidel Father II. 157 He is said to have passed through the ordeal of a military life with high respectability.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xiv. 167 An outfitting warehouse of the first respectability.
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre I. x. 162 A model of elderly English respectability.
1907 G. B. Shaw Major Barbara iii. in John Bull's Other Island 281 The seven deadly sins!—Yes, the deadly seven... Food, clothing, firing, rent, taxes, respectability and children.
1962 S. Plath Jrnl. 6 May (2000) 643 A leashed flamboyance could now show itself since he was free of Bank rules & respectability.
1984 P. Fitzgerald Charlotte Mew vii. 72 At all costs she must stay in Gordon Street, or her last hope of respectability would be gone.
2007 Independent 18 July (Extra section) 22/4 Bouncing is..on the verge of respectability these days, a fact that fills some old-school bouncers with disgust.
b. The group of people (esp. of the people in a particular place or community) who are respectable. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > good repute > reputability or honourableness > [noun] > respectability > person > collectively
honesty1563
respectability1808
1808 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1809) XII. 327 All the weight, talent, and respectability of the country.
1833 N. Wales Chron. 5 Feb. The company consisted of 140 gentlemen, comprising all the respectability of the town and neighbourhood.
1895 B. Stoker Watter's Mou' ii. 28 It was the intention to mask the smuggling scheme by an assemblage at which all the respectability would be present.
1910 A. Bennett Clayhanger 236 Nearly the whole respectability of the town was either fussily marshalling processions or gazing down at them in comfort.
c. In plural. The elements or features of life or behaviour which are conventionally regarded as respectable. Cf. propriety n. 7b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > [noun] > seemly behaviour or propriety > an) act(s) or requirement(s) of
decorum1603
convenientsa1657
decencies1667
the proprieties1767
respectabilities1809
the conventionalities1854
the mind > attention and judgement > good taste > pleasing fitness > [noun] > seemliness or propriety > that which has
decorum1601
respectabilities1809
the becoming1842
comme il faut1857
1809 Eclectic Rev. June 574 How do we pity one of these tiny men, cut off from the respectabilities of his manhood by the accident of stunted growth!
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present i. v. 41 With his cash-accounts and larders dropping fatness, with his respectabilities, warm garnitures, and pony-chaise.
1929 S. Lewis Dodsworth xix. 209 It was all a fantastic play to him, very gay and bright after the solemn respectabilities and the disapproving mansard roofs of the older residential avenues in Zenith.
1953 D. Whipple Someone at Distance xi. 97 To please his parents, to found a family, to return to the Church and the respectabilities in general, he married Germaine Brouet.
2006 New Yorker (Nexis) 23 Oct. 52 Like most Englishmen of his class and time, Darwin was a prisoner of respectabilities and of encircling embarrassments.
d. A respectable person.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > good repute > reputability or honourableness > [noun] > respectability > person
pillarc1330
barona1400
Christian1693
respectable1770
respectability1837
square John1934
1837 T. Carlyle in London & Westm. Rev. Jan. 210/1 Immaculate Pharisees and Respectabilities, with their eye ever set on ‘character’, and the letter of the law.
1888 Times 20 Sept. 7/2 Irishmen..laugh in their sleeve when the dull respectabilities of the Gladstonian party take the thing seriously.
1906 Sat. Rev. 20 Jan. 69 The..labour leaders whose great pride it was to be amongst the respectabilities of the well-to-do middle classes.
1999 Moscow Times (Nexis) 4 Dec. With help from such respectabilities as Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.
ΚΠ
1780 Let. to Earl of Hillsborough 6 The several Governors..were applied to for their opinion with regard to the strength, consistency, and respectability of the enemy.
1808 L. Murray Eng. Gram. Illustr. I. iii. 203 The diversity of sentiment on this subject, and the respectability of the different opponents, will naturally induce the readers to pause and reflect, before they decide.
a1817 T. Dwight Trav. New-Eng. & N.-Y. (1821) II. 241 The District of Maine is fitted to derive its respectability especially from fishing, and commerce.
3. The state or fact of being of a respectable size, quality, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > good repute > reputability or honourableness > [noun] > respectability > of things
respectability1896
1896 Times 27 Aug. 8/2 Their innings..fell only 23 short of the visitors' total. For the respectability of this record Mr. Rice was mostly responsible.
1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman p. xxviii He and I and Mr. Sidney Webb were sowing our political wild oats as a sort of Fabian Three Musketeers, without any prevision of the surprising respectability of the crop that followed.
1980 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 8 Mar. Cooper did give the score a measure of respectability with a goal late in the game.
2008 Somerset County Gaz. (Nexis) 21 May Barrett pushed the total towards the relative respectability of the 150-mark.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1769