DECOROUS Synonyms: 86 Similar and Opposite Words

decorous

adjective

ˈde-kər-əs

as in polite

following the established traditions of refined society and good taste we were asked to be on our most decorous behavior at the formal event

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in formal

marked by or showing careful attention to set forms and details the oppressively decorous standards of a royal court

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of decorous Who decides what’s decorous and what’s vulgar? —

Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2025 The hearings are usually decorous affairs, where anger is routine but controlled. —

David Lightman, Sacbee.com, 16 Sep. 2025 Still, Julie Rotblatt Amrany got the flying ponytail right and delivered a decorous portrayal that was well received. —

Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 30 Aug. 2025 The teenager, who spoke in hushed, decorous bursts, had months earlier shot rats near a friend’s camp in Manchac, dressed the carcasses (an intricate process, given the animal’s size), and frozen their haunches. —

Nathaniel Rich, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for decorous

Recent Examples of Synonyms for decorous

Adjective

Jim Dickinson stepped in to produce and play a little piano, but Travis deemed the results too polished, too polite, too bourgeois.

— Stephen M. Deusner, Pitchfork, 8 Feb. 2026
Messy is a polite way to describe the silos of vitriol that have turned hate into a national pastime.

— Denise Crosby, Chicago Tribune, 8 Feb. 2026