Search the Dictionary

The quality or state of being decent, suitable, or becoming, in words or behavior; propriety of form in social intercourse, in actions, or in discourse; proper formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty. Observances of time, place, and of decency in general. Burke. Imm…

Suitable in words, behavior, dress, or ceremony; becoming; fit; decorous; proper; seemly; as, decent conduct; decent language. Shak. Before his decent steps. Milton.

Suitable to a character, or to the time, place, and occasion; marked with decorum; becoming; proper; seemly; befitting; as, a decorous speech; decorous behavior; a decorous dress for a judge. A decorous pretext the war. Motley. -- De*co"rous*ly, adv. -- De*co"rous*ness, n.

Propriety of manner or conduct; grace arising from suitableness of speech and behavior to one's own character, or to the place and occasion; decency of conduct; seemliness; that which is seemly or suitable. Negligent of the duties and decorums of his station. Hallam. If your master Would have a queen his beggar, you mu…

Serving, or suitable, for defense; defensive. [Obs.] With men of courage and with means defendant. Shak.

Fit to be deputed; suitable to act as a deputy. Carlyle.

A mast, spar, or tall frame, supported at the top by stays or guys, with suitable tackle for hoisting heavy weights, as stones in building. Derrick crane, a combination of the derrick and the crane, having facility for hoisting and also for swinging the load horizontally.

Conduct suitable to the devil; extreme wickedness; deviltry. Stark lies and devilry. Sir T. More.

Suitable; adequate; fit. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Unsuitableness; unadaptedness. [R.]

The act of disapproving; mental condemnation of what is judged wrong, unsuitable, or inexpedient; feeling of censure. We have ever expressed the most unqualified disapprobation of all the steps. Burke.

ss unfavorable judgment upon; to condemn by an act of the judgment; to regard as wrong, unsuitable, or inexpedient; to censure; as, to disapprove the conduct of others.

The decomposition of complex substances, within the organism, into simpler ones suitable only for excretion, with evolution of energy, -- a normal nutritional process the reverse of assimilation; downward metabolism. The breaking down of already existing chemical compounds into simpler ones, sometimes called disassimil…

Incongruity; disagreement; unsuitableness. Sir M. Hale.

Unsuitableness; incongruity. [Obs.] Bacon.

Not convenient or congruous; unsuitable; ill-adapted. [Obs.] Bp. Reynolds.

Capable of being, or suitable to be, discounted; as, certain forms are necessary to render notes discountable at a bank.

To think unworthy; to deem unsuitable or unbecoming; as, to disdain to do a mean act. Disdaining . . . that any should bear the armor of the best knight living. Sir P. Sidney.

Want of suitableness, adequacy, or due proportion to an end or use; unsuitableness; disparity; as, the disproportion of strength or means to an object.

Disproportional; unsuitable in form, size, quantity, or adaptation; disproportionate; inadequate. -- Dis`pro*por"tion*a*ble*ness, n. Hammond. -- Dis`pro*por"tion*a*bly, adv.