Hypertext Webster Gateway: "decency"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Decency \De"cen*cy\, n.; pl. {Decencies}. [L. decentia, fr.
decens: cf. F. d['e]cence. See {Decent}.]
1. The quality or state of being decent, suitable, or
becoming, in words or behavior; propriety of form in
social intercourse, in actions, or in discourse; proper
formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom
from obscenity or indecorum; modesty.
Observances of time, place, and of decency in
general. --Burke.
Immodest words admit of no defense, For want of
decency is want of sense. --Roscommon.
2. That which is proper or becoming.
The external decencies of worship. --Atterbury.
Those thousand decencies, that daily flow From all
her words and actions. --Milton.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
decency
n 1: the quality of conforming to standards of propriety and
morality [ant: {indecency}]
2: the quality of being polite and respectable
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