HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
adj. po·lit·er, po·lit·est 1. Marked by or showing consideration for others and observance of accepted social usage. 2. Refined; elegant: polite society. [Middle English polit, polished, from Latin polītus, past participle of polīre, to polish; see POLISH.] po·litely adv. po·liteness n. Synonyms: polite, mannerly, civil, courteous, genteel These adjectives mean mindful of, conforming to, or marked by good manners. Polite and mannerly imply consideration for others and the adherence to conventional social standards of good behavior: "She was so polite and unwilling to offend that she wouldn't always make her feelings and intentions clear" (Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson). "Just the one young man came out, very mannerly, and helped first her then me down from the car" (Alice Munro). Civil often suggests the barest observance of accepted social usages, as in the avoidance of rudeness: "Mr. Bingley was unaffectedly civil in his answer, and forced his younger sister to be civil also, and say what the occasion required" (Jane Austen). Courteous implies courtliness and dignity: "Even around his parents ... he's unfailingly courteous and even-tempered, letting slide their mild attempts to run his life" (Paul Solotaroff). Genteel, which originally meant well-bred, now usually suggests excessive and affected refinement associated with the upper classes: "In a world without credit bureaus, background checks, or official identification, properly genteel attire, speech, and behavior determined where a person could go, whom he could see, and how he was judged in every area" (Jeffrey L. Pasley). |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
