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1 polite
polite [pəˈlaɪt]* * *[pə'laɪt]adjective poli (to avec, envers fml)in polite company ou society — en bonne société
to use the polite form — Linguistics utiliser le vouvoiement
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2 polite
polite adj poli (to avec, envers fml) ; to be polite about sth faire des commentaires polis sur qch ; when I complimented her I was only being polite quand je l'ai complimentée c'était uniquement par politesse ; to make polite conversation échanger des politesses ; I made polite noises about his present je l'ai remercié de son cadeau pour la forme ; in polite company ou society en bonne société ; to keep a polite distance rester à une distance respectueuse ; to use the polite form Ling utiliser le vouvoiement, vouvoyer. -
3 polite
polite [pə'laɪt]∎ to be polite to sb être poli envers ou avec qn;∎ it is polite to ask first quand on est poli, on demande d'abord;∎ to make polite conversation faire la conversation;∎ she was very polite about my poems elle s'est montrée très diplomate dans ses commentaires sur mes poèmes(b) (refined → manners) raffiné, élégant►► polite society la bonne société, le beau monde -
4 polite
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5 polite
(having or showing good manners; courteous: a polite child; a polite apology.) poli- politely- politeness -
6 polite
poli Adjective -
7 you
you [ju:]a.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When you is the subject of a sentence, the translation is tu or vous in the singular and vous in the plural. vous is used as the polite form in the singular. When you is the object of a sentence te replaces tu in the singular, but vous remains unchanged. toi is used instead of tu after a preposition and in comparisons. toi is also used when you is stressed.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I'll see you soon je te or je vous verrai bientôt• this book is for you ce livre est pour toi or vous• you two wait here! attendez ici, vous deux !• now you say something maintenant à toi or à vous de parler• you and I will go together toi or vous et moi, nous irons ensemble• if I were you à ta or votre place• you fool (you)! espèce d'imbécile !• I like the uniform, it's very you (inf) j'aime bien ton uniforme, c'est vraiment ton styleb. ( = one, anyone)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When you is the subject of a sentence the translation is either on or the passive form. When you is the object of a sentence or is used after a preposition, the direct translation of you is te or vous.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• how do you switch this on? comment est-ce que ça s'allume ?* * *[juː, jʊ]1) ( addressing somebody)I saw you on Saturday — ( one person) ( polite) je vous ai vu samedi; ( informal) je t'ai vu samedi; ( more than one person) je vous ai vus samedi
you would never do that — ( polite) vous, vous ne feriez jamais cela; ( informal) toi, tu ne ferais jamais ça
there's a manager for you! — (colloq) iron ça c'est un patron!
you idiot! — (colloq) espèce d'imbécile! (colloq)
2) ( as indefinite pronoun) ( subject) on; (object, indirect object) vous, te -
8 you
1 ( addressing sb) I saw you on Saturday ( one person) ( polite) je vous ai vu samedi ; ( informal) je t'ai vu samedi ; ( more than one person) je vous ai vus samedi ; are you busy? ( one person) ( polite) vous êtes occupé? ; ( informal) tu es occupé? ; ( more than one person) vous êtes occupés? ; oh, it's you ah, c'est vous or c'est toi ; it's for you c'est pour vous or pour toi ; you who… vous qui…, toi qui… ; YOU would never do that ( polite) vous, vous ne feriez jamais cela ; ( informal) toi tu ne ferais jamais ça ; there's a manager for you ○ ! iron ça c'est un patron! ; you English vous autres Anglais ; don't you talk to me like that! ne me parle pas sur ce ton! ; you idiot ○ ! espèce d'imbécile ○ ! ; you two can stay vous deux vous pouvez rester ; do you people smoke? vous fumez? ;2 ( as indefinite pronoun) ( subject) on ; (object, indirect object) vous, te ; you never know! on ne sait jamais! ; they say sweets give you spots on dit que les bonbons vous or te donnent des boutons. -
9 Usage note : you
In English you is used to address everybody, whereas French has two forms: tu and vous. The usual word to use when you are speaking to anyone you do not know very well is vous. This is sometimes called the polite form and is used for the subject, object, indirect object and emphatic pronoun:would you like some coffee?= voulez-vous du café?can I help you?= est-ce que je peux vous aider?what can I do for you?= qu’est-ce que je peux faire pour vous?The more informal pronoun tu is used between close friends and family members, within groups of children and young people, by adults when talking to children and always when talking to animals ; tu is the subject form, the direct and indirect object form is te (t’ before a vowel) and the form for emphatic use or use after a preposition is toi:would you like some coffee?= veux-tu du café?can I help you?= est-ce que je peux t’aider?there’s a letter for you= il y a une lettre pour toiAs a general rule, when talking to a French person use vous, wait to see how they address you and follow suit. It is safer to wait for the French person to suggest using tu. The suggestion will usually be phrased as on se tutoie? or on peut se tutoyer?Note that tu is only a singular pronoun and vous is the plural form of tu.Remember that in French the object and indirect object pronouns are always placed before the verb:she knows you= elle vous connaît or elle te connaîtIn compound tenses like the present perfect and the past perfect, the past participle agrees in number and gender with the direct object:I saw you on Saturday(to one male: polite form)= je vous ai vu samedi(to one female: polite form)= je vous ai vue samedi(to one male: informal form)= je t’ai vu samedi(to one female: informal form)= je t’ai vue samedi(to two or more people, male or mixed)= je vous ai vus samedi(to two or more females)= je vous ai vues samediWhen you is used impersonally as the more informal form of one, it is translated by on for the subject form and by vous or te for the object form, depending on whether the comment is being made amongst friends or in a more formal context:you can do as you like here= on peut faire ce qu’on veut icithese mushrooms can make you ill= ces champignons peuvent vous rendre malade or ces champignons peuvent te rendre maladeyou could easily lose your bag here= on pourrait facilement perdre son sac iciNote that your used with on is translated by son/sa/ses according to the gender and number of the noun that follows.For verb forms with vous, tu and on see the French verb tables.For particular usages see the entry you. -
10 afraid
afraid [əˈfreɪd]a. ( = frightened) to be afraid avoir peur• don't be afraid! n'ayez pas peur !• to be afraid of sb/sth avoir peur de qn/qch• to be afraid for sb/sth avoir peur pour qn/qchb. (expressing polite regret) I'm afraid I can't do it je suis désolé, mais je ne pourrai pas le faire• are you going? -- I'm afraid not vous partez ? -- hélas non• are you going? -- I'm afraid so vous partez ? -- hélas oui• he's not here, I'm afraid je suis désolé, il n'est pas là* * *[ə'freɪd]1) ( frightened)to be afraid — avoir peur (of de; to do, of doing de faire)
2) ( anxious)3) ( in expressions of regret)‘did they win?’ - ‘I'm afraid not’ — ‘ont-ils gagné?’ - ‘hélas, non’
4) ( as polite formula) -
11 civil
civil [ˈsɪvl]1. adjectivea. civilb. ( = polite) courtois2. compounds━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Accordés dans le cadre du « Civil Partnership Act » de 2004, les civil partnerships donnent un statut juridique aux relations homosexuelles bien établies. Ils accordent aux couples de même sexe les mêmes droits (en matière de propriété, fiscalité, prestations sociales, droits parentaux, etc.) et devoirs qu'aux couples mariés.* * *['sɪvl]1) (civic, not military) civil2) Law [case, court, offence] civil; [claim] au civil3) ( polite) courtois•• -
12 could
could [kʊd]a. (past)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When could refers to ability in the past, it is translated by the perfect of pouvoir, or by the imperfect if the time is continuous.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I couldn't phone because I had no change je n'ai pas pu téléphoner parce que je n'avais pas de monnaie━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When used with a verb of perception, could is not usually translated.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► could have is usually translated by the conditional of avoir + pu.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━b. (present)━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When could refers to the present, the present tense is generally used in French.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When could indicates future possibility, it is translated by the conditional.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• you could at least apologize! tu pourrais au moins t'excuser !━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• could you pass me the salt, please? pourriez-vous me passer le sel, s'il vous plaît ?• could I have a word with you? est-ce que je pourrais vous parler un instant (s'il vous plaît) ?* * *[kʊd]can I -
13 ought
ought [ɔ:t]* * *[ɔːt]Note: In virtually all cases, ought is translated by the conditional tense of devoir: you ought to go now = tu devrais partir maintenant; they ought to arrive tomorrow ils devraient arriver demainThe past ought to have done/seen etc is translated by the past conditional of devoir: he ought to have been more polite = il aurait dû être plus poli. For further examples, including negative sentences, see the entry belowThe French verb devoir is irregular. For its conjugation see the French verb tablesmodal auxiliary1) (expressing probability, expectation) -
14 pleasantry
pleasantry [ˈplezntrɪ]a. ( = joke) plaisanterie f* * *['plezntrɪ] 1. 2.pleasantries plural noun ( polite remarks) civilités fpl -
15 pleasure
pleasure [ˈpleʒər]1. nouna. ( = enjoyment) plaisir m• toys which can give children hours of pleasure des jouets avec lesquels les enfants peuvent s'amuser pendant des heures• has he gone to Paris on business or for pleasure? est-il allé à Paris pour affaires ou pour son plaisir ?b. ( = source of enjoyment) plaisir m• with pleasure ( = willingly) avec plaisir• I have pleasure in accepting... j'ai l'honneur d'accepter...• Mr and Mrs Brewis request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter M. et Mme Brewis sont heureux de vous faire part du mariage de leur fille et vous prient d'assister à la bénédiction nuptiale2. compounds* * *['pleʒə(r)]2) [C] (enjoyable activity, experience) plaisir m (of de)it is/was a pleasure to do — c'est/c'était agréable de faire
3) ( in polite formulae)I look forward to the pleasure of meeting you — ( some day) j'espère avoir un jour le plaisir de vous rencontrer
my pleasure — ( replying to request for help) avec plaisir; ( replying to thanks) je vous en prie
what an unexpected pleasure! — gen quelle excellente surprise!; iron ça! par exemple!
‘Mr and Mrs Moor request the pleasure of your company at their daughter's wedding’ — ‘M. et Mme Moor vous prient d'assister à la cérémonie de mariage de leur fille’
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16 gentleman
['‹entlmən]plural - gentlemen; noun( abbreviation gent)1) (a polite word for a man: Two gentlemen arrived this morning.) monsieur2) (a polite, well-mannered man: He's a real gentleman.) gentleman•- gents -
17 care
A n1 ( attention) attention f, soin m ; to take care to do prendre soin de faire ; to take care not to do faire attention de ne pas faire ; to take care when doing faire attention en faisant ; to take care that faire attention que (+ subj) ; he took (great) care over ou with his work il a pris (grand) soin de son travail ; to take care in doing mettre soin à faire ; she always takes (great) care in choosing the wine/preparing to go out elle met (le plus grand) soin à choisir le vin/à se préparer pour sortir ; ‘take care!’ ‘fais attention!’ ; ( expression of farewell) ‘à bientôt!’ ; with care avec soin, en faisant attention ; ‘handle with care’ ‘fragile’ ; have a care! GB, give a care! US fais attention! ; to exercise due ou proper care Admin, Jur prendre les précautions nécessaires ;2 ( looking after) (of person, animal) soins mpl ; (of car, plant, house, clothes) entretien m (of de) ; to take care of ( deal with) gen s'occuper de [child, client] ; Med soigner [patient, invalid] ; ( be responsible for) s'occuper de [house, garden, details, tickets, arrangements] ; ( be careful with) prendre soin de [machine, car] ; ( keep in good condition) entretenir [machine, car, teeth] ; ( look after for safe-keeping) garder [shop, watch] ; to take good care of sb/sth prendre soin de qn/qch ; customer care service m auprès des clients ; to put ou leave sb/sth in sb's care confier qn/qch à qn ; in his/your care à sa/ta garde ; the pupils/patients in my care les élèves/malades dont j'ai la responsabilité ; in the care of his father/teacher à la garde de son père/professeur ; John Smith, care of Mr and Mrs L. Smith ( on letter) John Smith, chez or aux bons soins de M et Mme L. Smith ; to take care of oneself ( look after oneself) prendre soin de soi ; ( cope) se débrouiller tout seul ; ( defend oneself) se défendre ; that takes care of that c'est réglé ;3 Med, Psych soins mpl ; a policy of care in the community une politique de soins en dehors du milieu hospitalier ; medical care soins mpl médicaux ; patient care soins mpl ; preventive care soins mpl préventifs ;4 GB Soc Admin to be in care être à l'assistance publique ; to take ou put a child into care mettre un enfant à l'assistance publique ;B vtr I don't care to do cela ne me plaît pas de faire, cela ne me dit rien de faire ; if you care to examine the report, you'll find that… iron si vous voulez avoir l'obligeance d'examiner le rapport, vous constaterez que… ; ( as polite formula) would you care to sit down? voulez-vous vous asseoir? ; he has more money than he cares to admit il a plus d'argent qu'il ne veut bien le dire.C vi1 ( feel concerned) she really cares elle prend ça à cœur ; to care about s'intéresser à [art, culture, money, environment] ; se soucier du bien-être de [staff, pupils, the elderly] ; se soucier de [injustice, inequality] ; I don't care! ça m'est égal!, je m'en moque! ; what do I care if…? qu'est-ce que ça peut me faire que… (+ subj)? ; as if I/he cared! comme si ça me/lui faisait quelque chose! ; I/he couldn't care less! ça m'est/ça lui est complètement égal! ; she couldn't care less about… elle se moque or se fiche ○ complètement de… ; I couldn't care less who wins/what happened je me moque or me fiche ○ de savoir qui va gagner/ce qui s'est passé ; they could all have died, for all he cared ils auraient pu mourir tous, cela lui était égal ; I don't care who he marries il peut épouser qui il veut, ça m'est égal ; I'm past caring ça m'est égal ; who cares? qu'est-ce que ça peut faire? ;2 ( love) to care about sb aimer qn ; show him that you care montre-lui que tu l'aimes ; I didn't know you cared! hum je ne connaissais pas tes sentiments! hum.he doesn't care a fig ou a damn ○ il s'en fiche ○ complètement.■ care for:▶ care for [sb/sth]1 ( like) aimer [person] ; I don't care for chocolate/whisky je n'aime pas le chocolat/le whisky ; ( as polite formula) would you care for a drink? voulez-vous boire quelque chose? ; -
18 ought
❢ In virtually all cases, ought is translated by the conditional tense of devoir: you ought to go now = tu devrais partir maintenant ; they ought to arrive tomorrow ils devraient arriver demain.The past ought to have done/seen etc is translated by the past conditional of devoir: he ought to have been more polite = il aurait dû être plus poli. For further examples, including negative sentences, see the entry below.1 (expressing probability, expectation) that ought to fix it ça devrait arranger les choses ; things ought to improve by next week la situation devrait s'améliorer d'ici la semaine prochaine ; the train ought not to have left yet le train ne devrait pas encore être parti ; he ought to be back by now il devrait être rentré depuis longtemps maintenant ;2 ( making polite but firm suggestion) oughtn't we to consult them first? ne devrions-nous pas les consulter d'abord? ; you ought to be in bed tu devrais être au lit ; she ought to see a doctor elle devrait consulter un médecin ;3 ( indicating moral obligation) we really ought to say something nous devrions vraiment dire quelque chose ; you ought not to say things like that tu ne devrais pas dire des choses pareilles ; someone ought to have accompanied her quelqu'un aurait dû l'accompagner ; I ought not to have been so direct je n'aurais pas dû être aussi direct ; he felt he ought not to be wasting time il se disait qu'il n'avait pas de temps à perdre ;4 ( when prefacing important point) I ought to say perhaps that je devrais peut-être préciser que ; I think you ought to know that je pense qu'il vaudrait mieux que tu saches que. -
19 Usage note : do
she’s doing her homework= elle fait ses devoirswhat are you doing?= qu’est-ce que tu fais?what has he done with the newspaper?= qu’est-ce qu’il a fait du journal?faire functions in very much the same way as to do does in English and it is safe to assume it will work in the great majority of cases. For the conjugation of the verb faire, see the French verb tables.Grammatical functionsIn questionsIn French there is no use of an auxiliary verb in questions equivalent to the use of do in English.When the subject is a pronoun, the question is formed in French either by inverting the subject and verb and putting a hyphen between the two ( veux-tu?) or by prefacing the subject + verb by est-ce que (literally is it that):do you like Mozart?= aimes-tu Mozart? or est-ce que tu aimes Mozart?did you put the glasses in the cupboard?= as-tu mis les verres dans le placard? or est-ce que tu as mis les verres dans le placard?When the subject is a noun there are again two possibilities:did your sister ring?= est-ce que ta sœur a téléphoné? or ta sœur a-t-elle téléphoné?did Max find his keys?= est-ce que Max a trouvé ses clés? or Max a-t-il trouvé ses clés?In negativesEqually, auxiliaries are not used in negatives in French:I don’t like Mozart= je n’aime pas Mozartyou didn’t feed the cat= tu n’as pas donné à manger au chatdon’t do that!= ne fais pas ça!In emphatic usesThere is no verbal equivalent for the use of do in such expressions as I DO like your dress. A French speaker will find another way, according to the context, of expressing the force of the English do. Here are a few useful examples:I DO like your dress= j’aime beaucoup ta robeI DO hope she remembers= j’espère qu’elle n’oubliera pasI DO think you should see a doctor= je crois vraiment que tu devrais voir un médecinWhen referring back to another verbIn this case the verb to do is not translated at all:I don’t like him any more than you do= je ne l’aime pas plus que toiI live in Oxford and so does Lily= j’habite à Oxford et Lily aussishe gets paid more than I do= elle est payée plus que moiI haven’t written as much as I ought to have done= je n’ai pas écrit autant que j’aurais dû‘I love strawberries’ ‘so do I’= ‘j’adore les fraises’ ‘moi aussi’In polite requestsIn polite requests the phrase je vous en prie can often be used to render the meaning of do:do sit down= asseyez-vous, je vous en priedo have a piece of cake= prenez un morceau de gâteau, je vous en prie‘may I take a peach?’ ‘yes, do’= ‘puis-je prendre une pêche?’ ‘je vous en prie’In imperativesIn French there is no use of an auxiliary verb in imperatives:don’t shut the door= ne ferme pas la portedon’t tell her anything= ne lui dis riendo be quiet!= tais-toi!In tag questionsFrench has no direct equivalent of tag questions like doesn’t he? or didn’t it? There is a general tag question n’est-ce pas? (literally isn’t it so?) which will work in many cases:you like fish, don’t you?= tu aimes le poisson, n’est-ce pas?he lives in London, doesn’t he?= il habite à Londres, n’est-ce pas?However, n’est-ce pas can very rarely be used for positive tag questions and some other way will be found to express the meaning contained in the tag: par hasard can often be useful as a translation:Lola didn’t phone, did she?= Lola n’a pas téléphoné par hasard?Paul doesn’t work here, does he?= Paul ne travaille pas ici par hasard?In many cases the tag is not translated at all and the speaker’s intonation will convey what is implied:you didn’t tidy your room, did you? (i.e. you ought to have done)= tu n’as pas rangé ta chambre?In short answersAgain, there is no direct French equivalent for short answers like yes I do, no he doesn’t etc. Where the answer yes is given to contradict a negative question or statement, the most useful translation is si:‘Marion didn’t say that’ ‘yes she did’= ‘Marion n’a pas dit ça’ ‘si’‘they don’t sell vegetables at the baker’s’ ‘yes they do’= ‘ils ne vendent pas les légumes à la boulangerie’ ‘si’In response to a standard enquiry the tag will not be translated:‘do you like strawberries?’ ‘yes I do’= ‘aimez-vous les fraises?’ ‘oui ’For more examples and particular usages, see the entry do. -
20 could
could [kʊd]ⓘ GRAM La forme négative est couldn't. Dans les contextes où il est nécessaire d'utiliser une forme plus soignée, on écrit could not.∎ I'd come if I could je viendrais si je (le) pouvais;∎ she could no longer walk elle ne pouvait plus marcher;∎ they couldn't very well refuse il leur aurait été difficile de refuser;∎ five years ago I could run a mile in four minutes but I couldn't anymore il y a cinq ans, je courais un mile en quatre minutes mais je ne pourrais plus maintenant;∎ she could have had the job if she'd wanted it elle aurait pu obtenir cet emploi si elle l'avait voulu∎ he could see her talking to her boss il la voyait qui parlait avec son patron;∎ I could see his point of view je comprenais son point de vue∎ she could read and write elle savait lire et écrire;∎ she could speak three languages elle parlait trois langues∎ could I borrow your sweater? est-ce que je pourrais t'emprunter ton pull?;∎ could I join you? est-ce que je pourrais me joindre à vous?;∎ couldn't I come too? est-ce que je ne pourrais pas venir moi aussi?;∎ could you help me please? pourriez-vous ou est-ce que vous pourriez m'aider, s'il vous plaît?;∎ could you bring the bill, please? pourriez-vous apporter l'addition, s'il vous plaît?∎ they could give up at any time ils pourraient abandonner n'importe quand;∎ could he be lying? se pourrait-il qu'il mente?;∎ the stock market could crash tomorrow le marché pourrait s'effondrer demain;∎ you could well be right tu pourrais bien avoir raison;∎ don't touch it, it could be dangerous n'y touchez pas, ça pourrait être dangereux;∎ they could have changed their plans ils ont peut-être changé leurs plans∎ you could have told me the truth tu aurais pu me dire la vérité;∎ they could easily have got here earlier ils auraient facilement pu arriver ici plus tôt;∎ you could have warned me! tu aurais pu me prévenir!;∎ what could I have done with the keys? qu'est-ce que j'ai bien pu faire des clés?;∎ I could kill him! je pourrais le tuer!;∎ he could have jumped for joy il en aurait presque sauté de joie;∎ I'm as happy as could be je suis on ne peut plus heureux;∎ she was as kind as could be elle était on ne peut plus gentille∎ I couldn't just leave him there, could I? je ne pouvais vraiment pas le laisser là;∎ I couldn't possibly do it before tomorrow je ne pourrai vraiment pas le faire avant demain∎ you could always complain to the director tu pourrais toujours te plaindre au directeur;∎ couldn't you just apologize? tu ne pourrais pas simplement présenter tes excuses?;∎ couldn't we at least talk about it? est-ce que nous ne pourrions pas au moins en discuter?∎ if I could just intervene here est-ce que je peux me permettre d'intervenir ici?;∎ you could argue it's a waste of resources tu pourrais argumenter que c'est un gaspillage de ressources∎ the house couldn't have been THAT expensive la maison n'a pas dû coûter si cher que ça;∎ how could she have done such a thing? comment a-t-elle pu faire une chose pareille?;∎ how could you say that? comment avez-vous pu dire ça ou une chose pareille?;∎ who on earth could that be? qui diable cela peut-il bien être?∎ he left and you couldn't blame him il est parti et on ne peut pas lui en vouloir
См. также в других словарях:
Polite — Po*lite , a. [Compar. {Politer}; superl. {Politest}.] [L. politus, p. p. of polire to polish: cf. F. poli. See {Polish}, v.] 1. Smooth; polished. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Rays of light falling on a polite surface. Sir I. Newton. [1913 Webster] 2.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
polite — [pə līt′] adj. [L politus, pp. of polire, to POLISH] 1. having or showing culture or good taste; polished; cultured; refined [polite society, polite letters] 2. having or showing good manners; esp., courteous, considerate, tactful, etc. SYN.… … English World dictionary
Polite — Po*lite , v. t. To polish; to refine; to render polite. [Obs.] Ray. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
polite — ► ADJECTIVE (politer, politest) 1) courteous and well mannered. 2) cultured and refined: polite society. DERIVATIVES politely adverb politeness noun. ORIGIN Latin politus polished, made smooth , from polire … English terms dictionary
polite — index diplomatic, discreet, formal, obeisant Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 … Law dictionary
polite — (adj.) mid 13c., from L. politus refined, elegant, lit. polished, pp. of polire to polish, to make smooth. Used literally at first in English; sense of elegant, cultured is first recorded c.1500, that of behaving courteously is 1762 … Etymology dictionary
polite — *civil, courteous, courtly, gallant, chivalrous Analogous words: *suave, urbane, diplomatic, politic: *thoughtful, considerate, attentive Antonyms: impolite … New Dictionary of Synonyms
polite — [adj] mannerly, civilized affable, amenable, amiable, attentive, bland, civil, complaisant, concerned, conciliatory, condescending, considerate, cordial, courteous, courtly, cultured, deferential, diplomatic, elegant, friendly, genteel, gentle,… … New thesaurus
polite — po|lite S3 [pəˈlaıt] adj [Date: 1400 1500; : Latin; Origin: , past participle of polire; POLISH1] 1.) behaving or speaking in a way that is correct for the social situation you are in, and showing that you are careful to consider other people s… … Dictionary of contemporary English
polite — adjective 1 behaving or speaking in a way that is correct for the social situation you are in, and showing that you are careful to consider other people s needs and feelings: a polite refusal | What polite well behaved children! | it is polite to … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
polite */ — UK [pəˈlaɪt] / US adjective Word forms polite : adjective polite comparative politer superlative politest a) someone who is polite behaves towards other people in a pleasant way that follows all the usual rules of society polite to: You must be… … English dictionary