decorous

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 20, 2025 is:

decorous • \DECK-er-us\  • adjective

Decorous is a formal adjective used to describe an attitude or behavior characterized by propriety and good taste.

// The ceremony was conducted with a decorous solemnity.

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Examples:

“... Elizabeth reveals, later, that she felt she never belonged to the decorous world of parties and corsets and curls and feathers on the head ...” — Ryan Lattanzio, Indie Wire, 13 Oct. 2025

Did you know?

One of the earliest recorded uses of decorous appears in a book titled The Rules of Civility (1671): “It is not decorous to look in the glass, to comb, brush, or do any thing of that nature to ourselves, whilst the said person be in the Room.” This rule of thumb may be a bit outdated; like many behaviors once deemed unbecoming, public primping is unlikely to offend in modern times. Though mores shift, decorous lives on to describe timeless courtesies like polite speech, proper attire, and (ahem) covering one’s cough.