How to Use decency in a Sentence

decency

noun
Definition of decencynext
Synonyms for decencynext
  • Have you no sense of decency?
  • If you're going to be late, please have the decency to call and let me know.
  • Decency, not fear of punishment, caused them to do the right thing.
  • He had been taught to observe the ordinary decencies.
  • Sending aid to the victims was simply a matter of common decency.
  • In the middle of this war zone, there is this island of hope and love and decency.
    — Emma Dibdin, Harper's BAZAAR, 27 June 2019
  • In some ways, Carter’s decency, which voters craved, got in the way of his governing.
    — Storer H. Rowley, Chicago Tribune, 5 Jan. 2025
  • Human decency is fragile because virtue is a challenge.
    — Sahil Handa, National Review, 4 June 2019
  • Because here, as a reminder of what matters, is that salt-of-the-earth lowly contractor who knows what decency is.
    — Dorothy Rabinowitz, WSJ, 27 June 2019
  • Your decency, sincerity, and kind soul will stay with us forever.
    — WSJ, 5 Dec. 2018
  • To often the school would turn a blind eye to protect their athletes and exempt them from decency and respect for people period.
    — Amanda Mitchell, Marie Claire, 29 Jan. 2019
  • Even deeper than our profound grief are our anger and our outrage at the monstrous violation of all human rights and decency responsible for it.
    — AZCentral.com, 13 June 2019
  • Thanks to content moderation, these sites are mostly free from unwanted assaults on common decency.
    — Chris Cox, WSJ, 23 June 2019
  • Audiences have also been drawn to the film because of Neville’s craftily constructed argument for decency.
    — Noel Murray, The Verge, 18 Dec. 2018
  • Milt is remembered by countless individuals for his kindness, respect, decency, honesty, integrity, sense of humor, and his heart of gold.
    — sun-sentinel.com, 9 June 2019
  • That decision to basically throw the Kurds under the bus without even having the decency to give them a heads-up seems to have been what finally pushed Mattis over the edge.
    — Jen Kirby, Vox, 21 Dec. 2018
  • To say nothing of all the other things Trump has done that have undermined the Constitution and violated the standards of common decency.
    — Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 24 June 2019
  • If the content of her character overcomes these youthful indiscretions, there is room in American politics for her vision of decency.
    — WSJ, 23 Jan. 2019
  • The theft was proof of the end of the civic decency that had reigned in the first months of the Covid era.
    — Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 1 Nov. 2020
  • The guy didn’t even have the decency to tell her in person.
    — Al Pacino, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2024
  • But the thing that was so tough about that one is that no one even had the decency to pan us.
    — Lacey Rose, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan. 2022
  • And Joe Biden's decency comes through and makes that -- takes that off the table.
    — ABC News, 2 May 2021
  • If the person has any sense of decency, that should not be long.
    — Washington Post, 28 Mar. 2022
  • The night did see Trump at least tip his cap to reason and decency, in parts.
    — Rey Mashayekhi, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2020
  • The life lessons learned: If your adorable co-worker is in love with you, have the decency to love them back.
    — Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 19 July 2024
  • And that is to return this country to a sense of decency.
    — Gromer Jeffers Jr., Dallas News, 4 Mar. 2020
  • But against all of that is the deep vein of decency that grounds America.
    — Ali Martin, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Feb. 2024
  • The telecast didn’t keep showing the tackle out of a sense of decency.
    — Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2023
  • They were also asked about whether Trump and Biden had a sense of decency.
    — Russell Blair, courant.com, 22 Oct. 2020
  • He should be remembered most for his pure human decency, something voters needed when he was elected in 1976.
    — Storer H. Rowley, Chicago Tribune, 5 Jan. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'decency.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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