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That survival instinct, that will to live, that need to get back to life again, is more powerful than any consideration of taste, decency, politeness, manners, civility. Anything. It's such a powerful force.
Danny Boyle

Meaning of "politeness" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF POLITENESS

politeness  [pəˈlaɪtnɪs] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF POLITENESS

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Politeness is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES POLITENESS MEAN IN ENGLISH?

politeness

Politeness

Politeness is best expressed as the practical application of good manners or etiquette. It is a culturally defined phenomenon, and therefore what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be quite rude or simply eccentric in another cultural context. While the goal of politeness is to make all of the parties relaxed and comfortable with one another, these culturally defined standards at times may be manipulated to inflict shame on a designated party. Anthropologists Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson identified two kinds of politeness, deriving from Erving Goffman's concept of face: ▪ Negative politeness: Making a request less infringing, such as "If you don't mind..." or "If it isn't too much trouble..."; respects a person's right to act freely. In other words, deference. There is a greater use of indirect speech acts. ▪ Positive politeness: Seeks to establish a positive relationship between parties; respects a person's need to be liked and understood.

Definition of politeness in the English dictionary

The definition of politeness in the dictionary is the quality of being polite.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH POLITENESS


adroitness
əˈdrɔɪtnɪs
appropriateness
əˈprəʊprɪɪtnɪs
aquafitness
ˈækwəˌfɪtnɪs
brightness
ˈbraɪtnɪs
eyewitness
ˈaɪˌwɪtnɪs
fitness
ˈfɪtnɪs
forthrightness
ˈfɔːθraɪtnɪs
greatness
ˈɡreɪtnɪs
impoliteness
ˌɪmpəˈlaɪtnɪs
lateness
ˈleɪtnɪs
lightness
ˈlaɪtnɪs
reconditeness
rɪˈkɒndaɪtnɪs
rightness
ˈraɪtnɪs
slightness
ˈslaɪtnɪs
tightness
ˈtaɪtnɪs
triteness
ˈtraɪtnɪs
unfitness
ʌnˈfɪtnɪs
uprightness
ˈʌpˌraɪtnɪs
whiteness
ˈwaɪtnɪs
witness
ˈwɪtnɪs

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE POLITENESS

polite
polite company
polite society
politely
politesse
Politian
politic
political
political action committee
political asylum
political commissar
political convention
political correctness
political economy
political football
political geography
political incorrectness
political party
political prisoner
political science

WORDS THAT END LIKE POLITENESS

adhesiveness
attentiveness
attractiveness
awareness
awesomeness
brand awareness
business
closeness
competitiveness
completeness
cost-effectiveness
cuteness
doneness
effectiveness
hoarseness
likeness
oneness
responsiveness
self-awareness
soreness
uniqueness

Synonyms and antonyms of politeness in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «POLITENESS»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «politeness» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of politeness

Translation of «politeness» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF POLITENESS

Find out the translation of politeness to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of politeness from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «politeness» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

有礼
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

cortesía
570 millions of speakers

English

politeness
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

आदाब
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

كِيَاسَة
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

вежливость
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

gentileza
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

সবিনয়ে
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

politesse
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Sopan
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Höflichkeit
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

丁寧
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

정중함
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Sopan santun
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

vẻ lịch sự
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

அமைதியாக
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

नम्रपणे
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

kibarca
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

cortesia
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

grzeczność
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

ввічливість
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

politețe
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

ευγένεια
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

beleefdheid
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

artighet
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

høflighet
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of politeness

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «POLITENESS»

The term «politeness» is quite widely used and occupies the 52.031 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Quite widely used
76
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «politeness» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of politeness
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «politeness».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «POLITENESS» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «politeness» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «politeness» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about politeness

EXAMPLES

10 QUOTES WITH «POLITENESS»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word politeness.
1
John James Audubon
Great men show politeness in a particular way; a smile suffices to assure you that you are welcome, and keep about their avocations as if you were a member of the family.
2
P. T. Barnum
Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements, will all prove unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly. The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him.
3
Josh Billings
One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at politeness.
4
Otto von Bismarck
Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.
5
Bono
You've gotta be very careful that grace and politeness do not merge into a banality of behavior, where we're just nice, sort of 'death by cupcake.'
6
Danny Boyle
That survival instinct, that will to live, that need to get back to life again, is more powerful than any consideration of taste, decency, politeness, manners, civility. Anything. It's such a powerful force.
7
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
It is wise to apply the oil of refined politeness to the mechanism of friendship.
8
Waris Dirie
I still do find it very difficult in the West to connect to this politeness of smiling, not saying how you're thinking or not saying how you really feel.
9
George Galloway
Spare me this sanctimony about politeness, please. There are millions of people in this country who hate the very word 'Thatcher' and 'Thatcherism,' which continues until this day.
10
Marguerite Gardiner
The chief prerequisite for a escort is to have a flexible conscience and an inflexible politeness.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «POLITENESS»

Discover the use of politeness in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to politeness and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage
This volume will be of special interest to students in linguistic pragmatics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, anthropology, and the sociology and social psychology of interaction.
Penelope Brown, Stephen C. Levinson, 1987
2
Politeness
Using a wide range of data from real-life speech situations, this introduction to politeness theory breaks away from the limitations of current models.
Richard J. Watts, 2003
3
Politeness: A Theoretical Review of Brown and Levinson's ...
Therefore, I will make use of Brown and Levinson’s notion of politeness and present their concept in theory before I will continue by questioning the practicability and universality of this model.
Nadja Grebe, 2009
4
On Apologising in Negative and Positive Politeness Cultures
This book investigates how speakers of English, Polish and Russian deal with offensive situations.
Eva Ogiermann, 2009
5
Gender and Politeness
Sara Mills discusses the complex relations between gender and politeness and argues that although there are circumstances when women speakers, drawing on stereotypes of femininity to guide their behaviour, will appear to be acting in a more ...
Sara Mills, 2003
6
Politeness in East Asia
This book is essential reading for those interested in intercultural communication, linguistics and East Asian languages.
Dániel Z. Kádár, Sara Mills, 2011
7
Discursive Approaches to Politeness
This collection of essays by the Linguistic Politeness Research Group represents the results of over a decade of the group's research, discussions, seminars and conferences on the subject of linguistic politeness.
Linguistic Politeness Research Group, 2011
8
Politeness
Explains the virtue of politeness and describes ways to show politeness in the home, school, and community.
Lucia Raatma, 2002
9
Politeness in Language: Studies in Its History, Theory and ...
The publication of this second edition demonstrates that the significance of the collection is just as salient in the first decade of the new millennium as it was at the beginning of the 1990s.
Richard J. Watts, Sachiko Ide, Konrad Ehlich, 2005
10
Politeness in Chinese Face-to-face Interaction
This book attempts to bring in the perspective of situational variation in analyzing linguistic politeness, and looks at politeness in the larger framework of social context.
Yuling Pan, 2000

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «POLITENESS»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term politeness is used in the context of the following news items.
1
7 Signs You're Boring Everyone Around You
People who are interested ask more complicated questions that show curiosity, not mere politeness. Related: Running Out Of Things To Talk ... «Yahoo Health, Jul 15»
2
ChowSun's Filipino Menu Shines in East Aurora
Despite his assumption (or politeness), I didn't have a clue what to do with the frozen concoction, so I followed his instructions (and the ... «Westword, Jul 15»
3
For some, it may be best to follow Trump's advice
It is probably better to stay home than to experience the wonderful effects of Mexican politeness and civility. It could change you for the better. «Philly.com, Jul 15»
4
The Remedies to Come after Sandra Bland's Death
... violating Texas state trooper politeness protocols and perhaps against the Waller County officials whose treatment of Bland was inexplicable. «The Nonprofit Quarterly, Jul 15»
5
Cross-country cyclists stop in Duluth to do some good
Plus, they've experienced Minnesotans striking up conversations with them and buying them meals with a politeness that Lee said he's not ... «Minnesota Public Radio News, Jul 15»
6
Second clue: Guess where we are for this week's I Spy St. Louis …
This week's location is a St. Louis landmark where you'll be treated with politeness and customers are expected to have good manners. «St. Louis Business Journal, Jul 15»
7
Inside the round that could've been at the Canadian Open
Canadians are known for their politeness, but when Hearn stood over his ball on the first green and the marshal said “quiet please”, it was as ... «Toronto Sun, Jul 15»
8
Tour de France 2015: On and off the bike, Chris Froome beat them …
It also became clear that with resilience, calm and politeness were also traits. On Saturday after all but securing his Tour win by defending his ... «Sydney Morning Herald, Jul 15»
9
9 Signs Your Crush Has Friendzoned You
They will oftentimes remember the things you tell them out of politeness and not out of any genuine interest in you. Go find out that the ... «360Nobs.com, Jul 15»
10
Origin and development of Indian languages
... of the hymns spoke of universally recognised higher values of life such as truthfulness, honesty, dedication, sacrifice, politeness and culture. «The Hans India, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Politeness [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/politeness>. Apr 2024 ».
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