What does polite mean in English?

You can learn polite Pronunciation, Grammar & Synonyms in this most authoritative English Dictionary.

polite Meaning, Definition, Pronunciation, Grammar & Synonyms❤️

0 behaving in a way that is socially correct and shows understanding of and care for other people's feelings:
- I'm afraid I wasn't very polite to her.
- She sent me a polite letter thanking me for my invitation.
- He was too polite to point out my mistake.
- polite conversation
- Sex never used to be discussed in polite society.
1 behaving in a way that is socially correct and shows respect for other people’s feelings:
- She was too polite to point out my mistake.

She was polite but not excessively so.
"Try to be polite to him." "Like hell I will!"
He was unusually polite.
He's usually quite polite in my presence.
They're very polite in your presence, but you get the feeling they're laughing up their sleeves.
With engineers and administrators he was always polite and exceedingly friendly.
The seminar quietly finessed the definitional question, not without a few polite demurs.
Their approaches to these senior figures were invariably polite and deferential, at least initially.

0 Being polite or less direct

We sometimes use a past verb form to talk about present time, in order to be more polite or less direct:
1 Things in the past that are still true

Sometimes we use past verb forms to refer to things which were true or which happened in the past, even when they are still true now:
2 Past: typical errors
3 Politeness

Politeness is about keeping good relations with your listener or reader. There are two types of politeness
4 Politeness: showing respect

There are many ways in which we can show that we value and respect our listener or reader. In more formal situations, we are especially careful to use certain polite phrases: