Civility

Respectful restraint and politeness that make social or public disagreement possible.

Reach for it when naming a standard of conduct without demanding agreement or affection

Civility allowed residents to challenge the plan without attacking one another.

• everyday

  good manners

  a familiar phrase will be clearest

  not when Good manners can sound like etiquette training rather than democratic restraint.

• everyday

  politeness

  conventional manners are the basic expectation

  not when Politeness may be superficial and is not tested only during disagreement.

• warm

  courtesy

  considerate acts toward individuals are prominent

  not when Courtesy is broader than the shared restraint needed in public conflict.

• professional

  respect

  recognizing dignity or legitimate standing is central

  not when Respect can coexist with blunt speech that falls short of civility.

• formal

  decorum

  behavior appropriate to a formal setting is the issue

  not when Decorum protects propriety and can silence honest but civil dissent.

• incivility
• rudeness
• hostility

• basic civility

  Basic civility is still required when the answer is no.

• public civility

  The forum paired public civility with room for hard questions.

• restore civility

  A neutral chair helped restore civility to the meeting.

• Civil adj.

• merriam-webster, noun sense 1 ↗opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26

The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.