Politesse
//pɑləˈtɛs// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Civility, politeness, courtesy or gallantry; genteel politeness or an instance of this. countable, uncountable
"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 waste"
- 2 courtesy towards women wordnet
Example
More examples"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 waste"
Etymology
From French politesse, from Italian politezza, from polito, past participle of pulire (“to clean”), from Latin polire, present active infinite form of poliō (“I polish”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.