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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

respect.

An attitude of consideration or high regard; a feeling of admiration or esteem.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɹɪˈspɛkt/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɹɪˈspekt/Australia/ɹəˈspekt/New-Zealand
  1. An attitude of consideration or high regard; a feeling of admiration or esteem.

    uncountable
    He is an intellectual giant, and I have great respect for him.
  2. Good opinion, honor, or admiration.

    uncountable
  3. Polite greetings, often offered as condolences after a death.

    uncountable
    The mourners paid their last respects to the deceased poet.
  4. A particular aspect, feature or detail of something.

    countable
    This year's model is superior to last year's in several respects.
  5. Good will; favor.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re- Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Italic *spekjō Latin speciō Latin respiciō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin respectus Old French respectbor. Middle English respect English respect From Middle English respect, from Old French respect, also respit (“respect, regard, consideration”), from Latin respectus (“a looking at, regard, respect”), perfect passive participle of respiciō (“look at, look back upon, respect”), from re- (“back”) + speciō (“to see”), equivalent to re- + -spect. Doublet of respite. The verb is derived from the noun.

verb/ɹɪˈspɛkt/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɹɪˈspekt/Australia/ɹəˈspekt/New-Zealand
  1. To have respect for.

    She is an intellectual giant, and I respect her greatly.
  2. To have regard for something, to observe a custom, practice, rule or right.

    I respect your right to hold that belief, although I think it is nonsense.
    I respect your right to feel offended, even though most people, myself included, totally disagree and don’t find the comment offensive in the slightest.
  3. To abide by an agreement.

    They failed to respect the treaty they had signed, and invaded.
  4. To take notice of; to regard as worthy of special consideration; to heed.

  5. To relate to; to be concerned with.

    transitive
  6. To regard; to consider; to deem.

    obsolete
  7. To look toward; to face.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re- Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Italic *spekjō Latin speciō Latin respiciō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin respectus Old French respectbor. Middle English respect English respect From Middle English respect, from Old French respect, also respit (“respect, regard, consideration”), from Latin respectus (“a looking at, regard, respect”), perfect passive participle of respiciō (“look at, look back upon, respect”), from re- (“back”) + speciō (“to see”), equivalent to re- + -spect. Doublet of respite. The verb is derived from the noun.

intj/ɹɪˈspɛkt/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɹɪˈspekt/Australia/ɹəˈspekt/New-Zealand
  1. hello, hi

    Jamaica
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re- Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Italic *spekjō Latin speciō Latin respiciō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin respectus Old French respectbor. Middle English respect English respect From Middle English respect, from Old French respect, also respit (“respect, regard, consideration”), from Latin respectus (“a looking at, regard, respect”), perfect passive participle of respiciō (“look at, look back upon, respect”), from re- (“back”) + speciō (“to see”), equivalent to re- + -spect. Doublet of respite. The verb is derived from the noun.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.