Word.ws English Dictionary

doing the decent thing

doing the decent thing is the present participle and gerund of do the decent thing.

Meaning of do the decent thing

Verb

do the decent thing (third-person singular simple present does the decent thing, present participle doing the decent thing, simple past did the decent thing, past participle done the decent thing)

  1. (idiomatic, set phrase) To take the most honorable or appropriate course of action, even if is not necessarily in the person's own interests.
    • Mr Speaker, will the Prime Minister do the decent thing and resign?

Questions about doing the decent thing

What is doing the decent thing the present participle and gerund of?
Doing the decent thing is the present participle and gerund of do the decent thing.

Words near doing the decent thing in the dictionary

  1. doing someone's bidding
  2. doing someone's business
  3. doing someone's head in
  4. doing someone's heart good
  5. doing the dash
  6. doing the decent thing
  7. doing the deed
  8. doing the dirty on
  9. doing the dishes
  10. doing the Dutch
  11. doing the handsome thing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: doing the decent thing (page history and authors); do the decent thing (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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