Word.ws English Dictionary

politesse

UK/pɒlɪˈtɛs/US/pɑləˈtɛs/

politesse noun: civility, politeness, courtesy or gallantry; genteel politeness or an instance of this.

Noun

politesse (countable and uncountable, plural politesses)

  1. Civility, politeness, courtesy or gallantry; genteel politeness or an instance of this.
    • So if you meet me, have some courtesy / Have some sympathy, and some taste / Use all your well-learned politesse / Or I'll lay your soul to waste1968, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, “Sympathy for the Devil”, in Beggars Banquet, performed by Rolling Stones
    • The reference in his letter to ‘having a drink’ is of course just an empty politesse.1978, Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea, Vintage, published 1999, pages 56–57

Forms of politesse

pluralpolitesses

Origin of politesse

From French politesse, from Italian politezza, from polito, past participle of pulire (“to clean”), from Latin polire, present active infinite form of poliō (“to polish”).

Questions about politesse

What does politesse mean?
Politesse means civility, politeness, courtesy or gallantry; genteel politeness or an instance of this.
What part of speech is politesse?
Politesse is a noun.
How do you pronounce politesse?
Politesse is pronounced /pɒlɪˈtɛs/ (UK).
What is the plural of politesse?
The plural of politesse is politesses.

Words near politesse in the dictionary

  1. politeness
  2. politenesses
  3. politer
  4. polites
  5. politesome
  6. politesse
  7. politesses
  8. politest
  9. Politi
  10. Politian
  11. politic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: politesse (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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