respect
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪˈspɛkt/
rhymes: -ɛkt
Forms: form: respects
form: respecting
form: respected
form: respected
Etymology: 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”). Doublet of respite.
Senses: examples: text: She is an intellectual giant, and I respect her greatly.
glosses: To have respect for.
examples: text: I respect your right to hold that belief, although I think it is nonsense.
text: 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.
glosses: To have regard for something, to observe a custom, practice, rule or right.
examples: text: They failed to respect the treaty they had signed, and invaded.
glosses: To abide by an agreement.
examples: text: [T]hou reſpecteſt not ſpilling Edwards bloud: [...]
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: We haue also large and various Orchards, and Gardens; Wherein we doe not ſo much reſpect Beauty, as Variety of Ground and Soile, proper for diuerſe Trees and Herbs: [...]
ref: 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, page 33:
glosses: To take notice of; to regard as worthy of special consideration; to heed.
examples: text: Whatever they are else, they are always chastisements; and correction respects faults.
ref: 1674, John Owen, Pneumatologia:
text: Glandulation respects the secretory vessels, which are either glandules, follicles, or utricles.
ref: 1806, James Lee, An Introduction to Botany:
text: I hope I may never again be in a state of mind so unchristian as the mental frame in which I lived for some weeks, respecting the memory of Master B.
ref: 1859 December 13, Charles Dickens, “The Mortals in the House”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Haunted House. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 4, column 2:
qualifier: dated except in "respecting"
glosses: To relate to; to be concerned with.
examples: text: [T]his my friend (knowen by no name) was found, / Being then a child and ſcarce of power to ſpeake, / To whom my father gaue this name of Gaſper, / And as his own reſpected him to death, [...]
ref: c. 1597, Ben. Jonson, A Pleasant Comedy, Called: The Case is Alterd. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Bartholomew Sutton, and William Barrenger, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
glosses: To regard; to consider; to deem.
examples: text: That Palladius adviſeth the front of his edifice ſhould ſo reſpect the South, that in the firſt angle it receive the riſing raies of the winter Sunne, and decline a little from the winter ſetting thereof.
ref: 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of East and West”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 263:
glosses: To look toward; to face.
Synonyms: sense: to have respect for
word: esteem
sense: to have respect for
word: honor
sense: to have respect for
word: revere
sense: to have respect for
word: venerate
sense: to regard as worthy of special consideration
word: esteem
sense: to regard as worthy of special consideration
word: value
sense: to abide by an agreement
word: honor
Derived terms: disrespect
over-respect
respectability
respectable
respected
respectful
self-respecting