POLITENESS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Politeness

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/pəlˈaɪtnəs/ Listen

noun

Politeness n.

High finish; smoothness; burnished elegance. (R.)

The quality or state of being polite; refinement of manners; urbanity; courteous behavior; complaisance; obliging attentions.

Synonyms: Courtesy; good breeding; refinement; urbanity; courteousness; affability; complaisance; civility; gentility; courtliness. Politeness, Courtesy. Politeness denotes that ease and gracefulness of manners which first sprung up in cities, connected with a desire to please others by anticipating their wants and wishes, and studiously avoiding whatever might give them pain. Courtesy is, etymologically, the politeness of courts. It displays itself in the address and manners; it is shown more especially in receiving and entertaining others, and is a union of dignified complaisance and kindness.

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Etymology of 'Politeness'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Politeness" Quotes from Famous Books

... spite of the errors of introspection dealt with in the last chapter, nobody will doubt that, when it is a question between a man's knowing what is at the moment in his own mind and somebody else's knowing, logic, as well as politeness, requires us to ...

— Illusions - A Psychological Study • James Sully

... of these people had made visits of curiosity to Fairoaks, and had tried to condole with the widow, or bring the subject of the Fotheringay affair on the tapis, and had been severally checked by the haughty reserve of Mrs. Pendennis, supported by the frigid politeness of the ...

— The History of Pendennis • William Makepeace Thackeray

... 'that it was not very polite, and papa says the closest friendship is no reason for dispensing with the rules of politeness.' ...

— Scenes and Characters • Charlotte M. Yonge

... Belgian airmen of the neighborhood called on him, and he liked to return their politeness. He loved to talk about his methods, especially his shooting methods, for flying to him was only the means of shooting, and once he defined his airplane as a flying machine-gun. Captain Galliot, a specialist ...

— Georges Guynemer - Knight of the Air • Henry Bordeaux

... him, and sought advancement from his favor. Festivals and shows of all sorts—plays, ballets, banquets, dazzling fireworks—were the costly diversion of the gay throngs of courtiers, male and female, in that court, where sensuality was thinly veiled by ceremonious politeness and punctilious religious observances. Poets, artists, and scholars were liberally patronized, and joined in the common adulation offered to the sovereign. Stately edifices were built, great libraries gathered; academies of art and of science, an astronomical ...

— Outline of Universal History • George Park Fisher

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