decorous

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Lee Martino’s choreography, like the production as a whole, is at its best when observing decorous constraints.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2026

Their work has been seen as reflecting their vastly different personas—Manet the dashing, witty, impetuous flâneur; Morisot the reserved, intelligent and exceedingly decorous bourgeoise—through the lens of their separate worlds.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 25, 2025

The 100-year-old annual honors convocation at the University of Michigan is typically a decorous affair, with a pipe organ accompanying golf-clap applause.

From New York Times • Apr. 18, 2024

To make a point she moved "outside the usual decorous modes of conversation that civil servants use", he says.

From BBC • Dec. 29, 2023

And there is so much time to be endured, time heavy as fried food or thick fog; and then all at once these red events, like explosions, on streets otherwise decorous and matronly and somnambulent.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood