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Dictionary:

decorum

  (dĭ-kôr'əm, -kōr'-) pronunciation
n.
  1. Appropriateness of behavior or conduct; propriety: “In the Ireland of the 1940's … the stolidity of a long, empty, grave face was thought to be the height of decorum and profundity” (John McGahern).
  2. decorums The conventions or requirements of polite behavior: the formalities and decorums of a military funeral.
  3. The appropriateness of an element of an artistic or literary work, such as style or tone, to its particular circumstance or to the composition as a whole.

[Latin decōrum, from decōrus, becoming, handsome. See decorous.]


 
 
Thesaurus: decorum

noun

  1. Conformity to recognized standards, as of conduct or appearance: comeliness, correctness, decency, decentness, decorousness, properness, propriety, respectability, respectableness, seemliness. See usual/unusual.
  2. Socially correct behavior: etiquette, good form, manner (used in plural), mores, propriety (also used in plural), p's and q's. See usual/unusual.

 
Antonyms: decorum

n

Definition: appropriate behavior, good manners
Antonyms: bad behavior, bad manners, impoliteness, indecency, rudeness


 

decorum [di‐kor‐ŭm], a standard of appropriateness by which certain styles, characters, forms, and actions in literary works are deemed suitable to one another within a hierarchical model of culture bound by class distinctions. Derived from Horace's Ars Poetica (c.20 BCE) and other works of classical criticism, decorum was a major principle of late Renaissance taste and of neoclassicism. It ranked and fixed the various literary genres in ‘high’, ‘middle’, and ‘low’ stations, and expected the style, characters, and actions in each to conform to its assigned level: thus a tragedy or epic should be written in a high or ‘grand’ style about high‐ranking characters performing grand deeds, whereas a comedy should treat humble characters and events in a ‘low’ or colloquial style. The mixture of high and low levels, as in Shakespeare, was seen as indecorous, although it could be exploited for humorous effect in burlesques and mock‐heroic works. The strict application of these principles of decorum was overturned by the advent of Romanticism; although in a general sense writers always suit style to subject‐matter according to their purposes. See also convention, diction, style.

 
Word Tutor: decorum
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: Accepted standards of conduct; proper behavior.

pronunciation When visiting the queen, one must act with decorum and conform to a strict code of socially correct behavior.

 
Translations: Translations for: Decorum

Dansk (Danish)
n. - sømmelighed, ordentlig opførsel, konvention, etikette

Nederlands (Dutch)
decorum (fatsoen)

Français (French)
n. - bienséance, convenances, étiquette

Deutsch (German)
n. - Anstand

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ευπρέπεια, κοσμιότητα

Italiano (Italian)
decenza

Português (Portuguese)
n. - decoro (m), decência (f)

Русский (Russian)
этикет

Español (Spanish)
n. - decoro, corrección, modales

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - anständighet, etikett, god ton

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
端正, 礼仪, 礼貌合宜

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 端正, 禮儀, 禮貌合宜

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 예절 바름, 단정

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 礼儀正しいこと, 上品さ, 礼儀

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الباقه, آداب التصرف‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮צניעות, הגינות‬


 
 

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms. © 1999-2008 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
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