How to Use decency in a Sentence

decency

noun
  • Have you no sense of decency?
  • If you're going to be late, please have the decency to call and let me know.
  • Decency, not fear of punishment, caused them to do the right thing.
  • He had been taught to observe the ordinary decencies.
  • Sending aid to the victims was simply a matter of common decency.
  • The guy didn’t even have the decency to tell her in person.
    Al Pacino, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2024
  • Having the decency to care about those who struggle in this world.
    cleveland, 15 Jan. 2021
  • But no such decency or love exists on a Left that has sold its American soul.
    Star Tribune, 8 Jan. 2021
  • That’s largely because of Neeson, who manages to imbue a broken man with decency.
    Bill Goodykoontz, Detroit Free Press, 15 Jan. 2021
  • But like the producer, Anny is uncomfortable in her own skin—and a victim of her own decency.
    Daniel Akst, WSJ, 15 Jan. 2021
  • The cancer on the body politic that has been Donald Trump has temporarily harmed our norms of decency and democracy.
    Star Tribune, 8 Jan. 2021
  • For a long four years, the country was subjected to disjointed and self-serving antics by our leaders without compassion or decency.
    Washington Post, 14 Jan. 2021
  • Biden's arrival will conjure the prospect of better days ahead, not least a return of decency to the Oval Office, Stephen Collinson writes.
    Tara John, CNN, 20 Jan. 2021
  • Every candidate must be judged on experience, decency and ability, not gender.
    Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 22 Sep. 2024
  • Panning still further back to assess how Facebook influenced the conjoined causes of decency and democracy around the world, the picture gets darker still.
    Siva Vaidhyanathan, The New Republic, 5 Jan. 2021
  • The epitome of an American hero, whose greatness was always cloaked in dignity, decency, and humility.
    Nancy Clanton, ajc, 22 Jan. 2021
  • Punishing Wilkinson is not a victory for civility or decency.
    Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 22 Jan. 2021
  • But the thing that was so tough about that one is that no one even had the decency to pan us.
    Lacey Rose, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan. 2022
  • And Joe Biden's decency comes through and makes that -- takes that off the table.
    ABC News, 2 May 2021
  • If the person has any sense of decency, that should not be long.
    Washington Post, 28 Mar. 2022
  • The life lessons learned: If your adorable co-worker is in love with you, have the decency to love them back.
    Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 19 July 2024
  • But against all of that is the deep vein of decency that grounds America.
    Ali Martin, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Feb. 2024
  • The telecast didn’t keep showing the tackle out of a sense of decency.
    Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2023
  • What's at stake here is the rule of law, human decency, and world order.
    ABC News, 19 Feb. 2023
  • Spencer Cox ran on decency and is passing up the chance to be decent.
    Paighten Harkins, The Salt Lake Tribune, 10 Nov. 2021
  • All the extra eyes have left coaches foaming at the mouth to teach Deion and the Buffs a lesson in decency.
    Tyler R. Tynes, Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2023
  • Certainly by the decency of the guards...that many were quite friendly and all of them were just and cordial.
    The Salt Lake Tribune, 18 Nov. 2021
  • It’s about the hope for decency, but again, told with fresh, original eyes.
    Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 14 Sep. 2022
  • His John Wick was a savage badass looking into the abyss…with a quiver of decency.
    Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 13 Mar. 2023
  • For Ken Minogue, decency was not just a way of doing things, but also the point of doing them.
    Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 14 Oct. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'decency.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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