respect
pronunciation
How to pronounce respect in British English:
UK [rɪˈspekt]
How to pronounce respect in American English:
US [rɪˈspekt]
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- Noun:
- (usually preceded by `in') a detail or point
- the condition of being honored (esteemed or respected or well regarded)
- an attitude of admiration or esteem
- a courteous expression (by word or deed) of esteem or regard
- behavior intended to please your parents
- a feeling of friendship and esteem
- courteous regard for people's feelings
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- Verb:
- regard highly; think much of
- show respect towards
Word Origin
- respect
- respect: [14] Respect and respite [13] are ultimately the same word. Both go back to respectus, the past participle of Latin respicere ‘look back at’, hence ‘look at, regard, consider’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back’ and specere ‘look’ (source of English spectacle, speculate, etc). Respectus passed into English, perhaps via Old French respect, as respect, in the sense ‘regard, relation’ (as in with respect to); the key modern meaning ‘deference, esteem’ developed towards the end of the 16th century.An earlier borrowing of respectus into Old French produced respit, which preserved another meaning of the Latin word, ‘refuge’. This was the source of English respite.=> inspect, respite, spectacle, spectator
- respect (n.)
- late 14c., "relationship, relation; regard, consideration," from Old French respect and directly from Latin respectus "regard, a looking at," literally "act of looking back (or often) at one," noun use of past participle of respicere "look back at, regard, consider," from re- "back" (see re-) + specere "look at" (see scope (n.1)). Meanings "feeling of esteem excited by actions or attributes of someone or something; courteous or considerate treatment due to personal worth or power" are from 1580s, as is sense of "point, particular feature."
- respect (v.)
- 1540s, "to regard," from Middle French respecter "look back; respect; delay," from Latin respectere, frequentative of respicere (see respect (n.). Meaning "treat with deferential regard or esteem" is from 1550s. Sense of "refrain from injuring" is from 1620s. Meaning "have reference to" is from 1560s. Related: Respected; respecting. To respect the person was "show undue bias toward (or against) based on regard for the outward circumstances of a person;" hence respecter of persons, usually with negative, from Acts x:34, in the 1611 translation.
Example
- 1. We have to respect all differences .
- 2. Yet in one respect the election has clarified matters .
- 3. He is a guy whom we should all respect .
- 4. More than that : they 've recoiled with respect .
- 5. Great executives areoften imperfect but their peers always respect them .