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POLITE
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Showing regard for others in manners, speech, behavior, etc.
Classified under:
Similar:
mannerly; well-mannered (socially correct in behavior)
courteous; gracious; nice (exhibiting courtesy and politeness)
Attribute:
niceness; politeness (a courteous manner that respects accepted social usage)
Antonym:
impolite (not polite)
Derivation:
politeness (the act of showing regard for others)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not rude; marked by satisfactory (or especially minimal) adherence to social usages and sufficient but not noteworthy consideration for others
Example:
even if he didn't like them he should have been civil
Synonyms:
civil; polite
Classified under:
Attribute:
civility (formal or perfunctory politeness)
Derivation:
politeness (a courteous manner that respects accepted social usage)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Marked by refinement in taste and manners
Example:
polite society
Synonyms:
civilised; civilized; cultivated; cultured; genteel; polite
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
refined ((used of persons and their behavior) cultivated and genteel)
Context examples:
“Hump,” he said to me, elaborately polite, “kindly take Mr. Mugridge’s arm and help him up on deck. He is not feeling very well.”
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Mr. Tilney was polite enough to seem interested in what she said; and she kept him on the subject of muslins till the dancing recommenced.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
The kind-hearted, polite old man might then sit down and feel that he had done his duty, and made every fair lady welcome and easy.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Lady Russell's composed mind and polite manners were put to some trial on this point, in her intercourse in Camden Place.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
So they oiled his legs until he could move them freely; and he thanked them again and again for his release, for he seemed a very polite creature, and very grateful.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
He was good company, I won’t deny it, and he had wonderful polite ways with him for a sailor man, so that I think there must have been a time when he knew more of the poop than the forecastle.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She had by no means forgotten the past, and she thought as ill of him as ever; but she felt his powers: he was entertaining; and his manners were so improved, so polite, so seriously and blamelessly polite, that it was impossible not to be civil to him in return.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
I should, if I had deliberated, have replied to this question by something conventionally vague and polite; but the answer somehow slipped from my tongue before I was aware—"No, sir."
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
“What the unmentionable to ears polite, do you think I want with rouge?” “No offence, sir,” said the Griffin; “we have it asked for by so many names, I thought it might be.”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
His hair is auburn, not red, and he was very polite, and I had a delicious redowa with him.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
