polite
/pəˈlaɪt/
polite adjective: well-mannered, civilized.
Adjective
polite (comparative politer or more polite, superlative politest or most polite)
- Well-mannered, civilized.
- It's not polite to use a mobile phone in a restaurant.
- Try and be polite to Auntie Maria for once.
- Smooth, polished, burnished.
- rays of light […]falling on […]a polite surface1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin]...
Verb
polite (third-person singular simple present polites, present participle politing, simple past and past participle polited)
Proper noun capitalized: Polite
Polite (plural Polites)
- A surname.
polite meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
polite in Hindi
- well-mannered
- सभ्य sabhya, विनम्र vinamra, शिष्टाचारी śiṣṭācārī, सज्जन sajjan
polite in Tamil
- பணிவான
polite in Marathi
- a polite, formulaic expression used at the end of a letter, essentially meaning bound by friendship or united by affectionate regard
- स्नेहांकित snehāṅkit
polite in Urdu
- خلیق, شائستہ
More languagesFewer languages
- polite in Bengali
- সভ্য shôbbhô
- polite in Telugu
- సభ్యము sabhyamu
- polite in Malayalam
- മര്യാദയുള്ള maryādayuḷḷa
- polite in Kannada
- ನಯಗೊಂಡ, ಹೊಲಬನರಿತ, ಒದಗುವ, ಒಳ್ಳೆನಡತೆಯ
- polite in Sanskrit
- सभ्य sabhya
- polite in Arabic
- أَدِيب ʔadīb, مُؤَدَّب muʔaddab
- polite in Malay
- sopan
- polite in Indonesian
- sopan
- polite in Persian
- مؤدب mo'addab
- polite in Thai
- สุภาพ sù-pâap
- polite in Vietnamese
- lịch sự, lễ phép
- polite in Myanmar
- မွန်ရည် mwanrany, ယဉ်ကျေ yanykye, ညင်သာ nyangsa
Examples of polite in a sentence
- He marries, bows at court, and grows polite.1733, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Bathurst:
- As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
Synonyms of polite
8 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of polite
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | politer |
| comparative | more polite |
| superlative | politest |
| superlative | most polite |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | polites |
| present participle | politing |
| past participle | polited |
| past | polited |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Polites |
Origin of polite
From Latin polītus (“polished”), past participle of poliō (“to polish, smooth”); see polish.
Words formed from polite
Phrases with polite
Words that rhyme with polite
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- knight
- slight
- Dwight
- height
- sight
- night
- sprite
- fight
- parasite
- site
- alight
- smite
- all right
- blight
- might
- mite
- skite
- cite
- indite
- lite
- outright
- plight
- bight
- excite
- ignite
- invite
- overnight
- uptight
- wight
- accite
- alright
- benight
- bewrite
- blite
- copyright
- despite
- dight
- disunite
- finite
- flite
- hight
- incite
- recite
- relight
- rewrite
- sleight
- spite
- spright
Questions about polite
- What does polite mean?
- Polite means well-mannered, civilized.
- What is polite in Hindi?
- Polite in Hindi is सभ्य (sabhya), विनम्र (vinamra), शिष्टाचारी (śiṣṭācārī). See Polite meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use polite in a sentence?
- He marries, bows at court, and grows polite.
- What part of speech is polite?
- Polite can be an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce polite?
- Polite is pronounced /pəˈlaɪt/.
Words near polite in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: polite (page history and authors); Polite (page history and authors); polite (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); स्नेहांकित (Marathi) (page history and authors); polite (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); সভ্য (Bengali) (page history and authors); సభ్యము (Telugu) (page history and authors); polite (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); सभ्य (Sanskrit) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-polite.ogg.
Cite this entry: “polite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/polite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.