Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use decent in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Decent means appropriate; suitable for the circumstances. Example: “Zohran Mamdani is a decent man for not accepting the pay rise he’s entitled to, as he wishes to see that money go to the poor of New York.”

Examples of decent by meaning

adjectiveHaving a suitable conformity to basic moral standards; showing integrity, fairness, or other characteristics associated...

  • Zohran Mamdani is a decent man for not accepting the pay rise he’s entitled to, as he wishes to see that money go to the poor of New York.

adjectiveSufficiently clothed or dressed to be seen.

  • Are you decent? May I come in?

adjectiveFair; acceptable; okay.

  • He's a decent saxophonist, but probably not good enough to make a career of it.
  • Blubbing went out with ‘decent’ and ‘ripping’.[1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section II, page 24
  • I'm all for opening new stations (Transport Scotland is planning another at East Linton, about halfway between Drem and Dunbar), but they are useless without a decent service.2021 June 30, Philip Haigh, “Regional trains squeezed as ECML congestion heads north”, in RAIL, number 934, page 53

adjectiveSignificant; substantial.

  • There are a decent number of references out there, if you can find them.

More sentences with decent

  • On the whole, they seem to be of the decent sort.From the entry of
  • He went to the mall to find a decent shirt for his interview.From the entry shirt
  • They had to bargain for a few minutes to get a decent price for the rug.From the entry bargain
  • To find the meaning of a word, your first port of call should be a decent dictionary.From the entry first port of call
  • He had a go at the restaurant business and made a fairly decent fist of it.From the entry make a fist of
  • His paper was decent but he lost some points for his creative spelling.From the entry creative spelling
  • Mr Speaker, will the Prime Minister do the decent thing and resign?From the entry do the decent thing
  • There's a decent bet that we'll be able to reach the top of that hill in an hour.From the entry bet
  • He’s always had a pretty decent throw.From the entry throw
  • That team needs a decent wide player.From the entry wide
  • Her search for decent home-made winter clothes came up with zilch, so she had to get imported stuff.From the entry zilch
  • The paladin can make for a decent tank, but I recommend that you get a class with better taunting skills.From the entry tank
  • The television picture is decent, but the sound is muddy.From the entry muddy
  • Although he seemed arbit at first, a few minutes of talking exposed a decent and well-mannered human being.From the entry arbit
  • My hair was so boofy this morning it took 10 minutes of brushing to get it looking decent.From the entry boofy
  • He was a decent old skin.From the entry skin
  • A: If we could get a decent signal around here, our phones would actually work, instead of being expensive bricks. B: What can I tell ya?From the entry what can I tell you
  • More unexpectedly, older tech and hardware stocks seem in decent nick, Mr Ives notes.2022 May 14, “Tech bubbles are bursting all over the place”, in The Economist, →ISSN. From the entry nick
  • I've seen a few Hroths and a decent amount of Roes in my time on Jenova.2021 April 30, Altair718, Reddit. From the entry roe
  • He's shrugged off his gang days and gotten into a decent school.2021 July 23, Andrea Martin, Another Man's Wife, Andrea Martin. From the entry shrug off
  • This is another heavy hitter from Nintendo with a sound gameplay loop and a decent skill ceiling.2021 June 28, Jordan Oloman, “'Mario Golf Super Rush' review: Another delightfully different Nintendo Switch sports game”, in NME…. From the entry skill ceiling
  • Lighting needs to be decent to allow carpeting plants to grow well.2019 April 19, “IWAGUMI STYLE”, in aquascapingsupply.com. From the entry Iwagumis
  • Stuck with you sponging off her and not even a decent shafting for her trouble.2018, Sarah Phelps, 23:00, in Ordeal by Innocence, episode 2, spoken by Mickey Argyle (Christian Cooke). From the entry shaft
  • Without decent recon and greater intel on this enemy, I'm starting to think our efforts are futile.2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: APEX Status. From the entry foothold
  • “For any decent, law-abiding citizen, there is no honour in this.2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN. From the entry law-abiding
  • He had to be tough, brave, witty, engaging – and decent.2016 March 3, David Thomson, The Guardian. From the entry triumph
  • Sure, mismatching isn't ideal, but I'd much rather have mismatched decent tyres than matched AliBaba-brand-it-yourself ditchfinders.2016 June 7, Adrian, “Re: Tyre noise”, in uk.rec.cars.maintenance (Usenet). From the entry ditchfinder
  • 'Just a decent cup of builder's with milk would do me.2014, Fanny Blake, With A Friend Like You, Hachette UK, →ISBN. From the entry builder's
  • 'He seems like a decent baby and he deserves a decent name.2011, Sophie Hannah, Lasting Damage, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 78. From the entry Anton
  • She's made some bad flicks but she's a solid actress when you put her in something decent.2011 January 19, @DieRobinsonDie, Twitter, archived from the original on 28 Jun 2025. From the entry Hathahate
  • In the downstairs bathroom, I see a decent toilet and an electric shower.2010, Taylor Dibbert, Fiesta of Sunset: The Peace Corps, Guatemala and a Search for Truth, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 42. From the entry electric shower
  • You use two nonwinter vegetables that are decent in midwinter: arugula and cherry or grape tomatoes.2007 January 24, Mark Bittman, “Cheesy Pasta, Redressed”, in New York Times. From the entry nonwinter
  • But at least this time I did not get a decent dragon at the Fort.2007, "Henry J Cobb", Unihorn abuse with Giant Zombies (on Usenet newsgroup rec.games.roguelike.nethack). From the entry unihorn
  • Those guys were funny and a lot more decent than many MSTers I've read.2006 December 31, Elizabeth Helena, “Re: NEW TNG All Wet [PG-13] (Marrissa Stories)”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet). From the entry MSTer

Meaning of decent

  1. adjective Appropriate; suitable for the circumstances.
  2. adjective Having a suitable conformity to basic moral standards; showing integrity, fairness, or other characteristics associated with moral uprightness.
  3. adjective Sufficiently clothed or dressed to be seen.

Full definition of decent

Questions about decent in a sentence

How do you use decent in a sentence?
Decent is used as an adjective. For example: “Zohran Mamdani is a decent man for not accepting the pay rise he’s entitled to, as he wishes to see that money go to the poor of New York.”
What is a short sentence with decent?
“He was a decent old skin.”
What does decent mean?
Decent means appropriate; suitable for the circumstances.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: decent (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use decent in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/decent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.