decent
adjective
Simple meaning
Appropriate; suitable for the circumstances.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
deesuhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdisənt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Appropriate; suitable for the circumstances.
of a person
Having a suitable conformity to basic moral standards; showing integrity, fairness, or other characteristics associated with moral uprightness.
Fair; acceptable; okay.
Conforming to perceived standards of good taste.
Significant; substantial.
informal
Sufficiently clothed or dressed to be seen.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Appropriate; suitable for the circumstances.
Used this way, decent is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- nice , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use decent
- “Speech in this circle, if not always decent, never became lewd"- George Santayana.”adjective
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “decent” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.