polite
po·lite
adjective
1.
2.
marked by refinement in taste and manners
- “cultivated speech”
- “cultured Bostonians”
- “cultured tastes”
- “a genteel old lady”
- “polite society”
3.
not rude; marked by satisfactory (or especially minimal) adherence to social usages and sufficient but not noteworthy consideration for others
- “even if he didn”
Origin
From Latin polītus (“polished”), past participle of poliō (“to polish, smooth”); see polish.
Phrases
- polite fiction
- polite literature
- polite notice
- polite society
Related words
Word family
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.