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Decent vs Worthy - What's the difference?

decent | worthy |

As adjectives the difference between decent and worthy

is that decent is appropriate; suitable for the circumstances while worthy is having worth, merit, or value.

As a noun worthy is

a distinguished or eminent person.

As a verb worthy is

to render or treat as worthy; exalt; revere; honour; esteem; respect; value; reward; adore.

decent

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Appropriate; suitable for the circumstances.
  • (of a person) Having a suitable conformity to basic moral standards; showing integrity, fairness, or other characteristics associated with moral uprightness.
  • Sufficiently clothed or dressed to be seen.
  • Fair; good enough; okay.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.}}
  • Significant; substantial.
  • (obsolete) Comely; shapely; well-formed.
  • * A sable stole of cyprus lawn / Over thy decent shoulders drawn — Milton.
  • Antonyms

    * indecent

    Anagrams

    *

    worthy

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) worthy, wurthi, from (etyl) *.

    Adjective

    (er)
  • having worth, merit or value
  • * Shakespeare
  • These banished men that I have kept withal / Are men endued with worthy qualities.
  • * Sir J. Davies
  • This worthy' mind should ' worthy things embrace.
  • honourable or admirable
  • deserving, or having sufficient worth
  • Suited; befitting.
  • * Shakespeare
  • No, Warwick, thou art worthy of the sway.
  • * Bible, Matthew iii. 11
  • whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.
  • * Milton
  • And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know / More happiness.
  • * Dryden
  • The lodging is well worthy of the guest.
    Derived terms
    * worthily * worthiness

    Noun

    (worthies)
  • a distinguished or eminent person
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) worthien, wurthien, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To render or treat as worthy; exalt; revere; honour; esteem; respect; value; reward; adore.
  • And put upon him such a deal of man, That worthied him, got praises of the king [...]'' — Shakespeare, ''King Lear .
  • * 1880 , Sir Norman Lockyer, Nature :
  • After having duly paid his addresses to it, he generally spends some time on the marble slab in front of the looking-glass, but without showing the slightest emotion at the sight of his own reflection, or worthying it with a song.
  • * 1908 , Edward Arthur Brayley Hodgetts, The court of Russia in the nineteenth century :
  • And it is a poor daub besides," the Emperor rejoined scornfully, as he stalked out of the gallery without worthying the artist with a look.
  • * 1910 , Charles William Eliot, The Harvard classics: Beowulf :
  • No henchman he worthied by weapons, if witness his features, his peerless presence!
    Derived terms
    * (l) * (l) ----