decency Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the quality of conforming to standards of propriety and morality
  2. noun the quality of being polite and respectable

WordNet

De"cen*cy noun
Etymology
L. decentia, fr. decens: cf. F. décence. See Decent.
Wordforms
plural Decencies
Definitions
  1. The quality or state of being decent, suitable, or becoming, in words or behavior; propriety of form in social intercourse, in actions, or in discourse; proper formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty.
    Observances of time, place, and of decency in general. Burke.
    Immodest words admit of no defense, For want of decency is want of sense. Roscommon.
  2. That which is proper or becoming.
    The external decencies of worship. Atterbury.
    Those thousand decencies, that daily flow From all her words and actions. Milton.

Webster 1913