Word.ws English Dictionary

courtesying

courtesying is the gerund of courtesy.

courtesying is the present participle and gerund of courtesy.

Meaning of courtesy

Noun

courtesy (countable and uncountable, plural courtesies)

  1. (uncountable) Polite behavior.
    • Please extend them the courtesy of your presence.
  2. (countable) A polite gesture or remark, especially as opposed to an obligation or standard practice.
    • I offered them a ride simply as a courtesy.
  3. (uncountable) Consent or agreement in spite of fact; indulgence.
    • They call this pond a lake by courtesy only.
  4. (uncountable) Willingness or generosity in providing something needed.
    • They received free advertising through the courtesy of the local newspaper.
  5. (dated) A curtsey.
    • The lady drops a courtesy in token of obedience, and the ceremony proceeds as usual.1760, Oliver Goldsmith, The Citizen of the World
  6. The life interest that the surviving husband has in the real or heritable estate of his wife.

See all 8 meanings of courtesy

Forms of courtesying

pluralcourtesyings

Origin of courtesying

From courtesy + -ing.

Questions about courtesying

What is courtesying the gerund of?
Courtesying is the gerund of courtesy.

Words near courtesying in the dictionary

  1. courtesy telephone
  2. courtesy title
  3. courtesy titles
  4. courtesy turn
  5. courtesy turns
  6. courtesying
  7. courtesyings
  8. courteth
  9. courtezan
  10. courtezans
  11. courtezanship

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: courtesying (page history and authors); courtesy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “courtesying.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/courtesying. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.