respect

From Middle English respect, from Old French respect, also respit ("respect, regard, consideration"; > respite), 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”).

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈspɛkt/
• Rhymes: -ɛkt
• Hyphenation: re‧spect

respect (countable and uncountable, plural respects)

1. (uncountable) an attitude of consideration or high regard

   He is an intellectual giant, and I have great respect for him.

   we do respect people for their dignity and worth.

2. (uncountable) good opinion, honor, or admiration
3. (uncountable, always plural) Polite greetings, often offered as condolences after a death.

   The mourners paid their last respects to the deceased poet.

4. (countable) a particular aspect, feature or detail of something
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 36:

     In our two loves there is but one respect

   This year's model is superior to last year's in several respects.

5. Good will; favor
   • 1611, King James Version, Exodus 2:25:

     And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

• Adjectives often applied to "respect": great, high, utmost, absolute

• (attitude of consideration): deference, esteem, consideration, regard, fealty, reverence, aught
• (good opinion): admiration, esteem, reverence, regard, recognition, veneration, honor
• (polite greetings, condolences):
• (aspect): aspect, facet, face, side, dimension

• belittlement
• contempt
• contumely
• despect (noun) (archaic)
• disdain
• disparagement
• disrespect (noun)
• ignoring
• irreverence
• neglect
• scorn
• slight

• respective

respect (third-person singular simple present respects, present participle respecting, simple past and past participle respected)

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.

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.
   • Shakespeare

     Thou respectest not spilling Edward's blood.

   • Francis Bacon

     In orchards and gardens, we do not so much respect beauty as variety of ground for fruits, trees, and herbs.

5. (transitive, dated except in "respecting") To relate to; to be concerned with.
   • J. Lee

     Glandulation respects the secretory vessels, which are either glandules, follicles, or utricles.

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House

     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.

6. (obsolete) To regard; to consider; to deem.
   • Ben Jonson

     To whom my father gave this name of Gaspar, / And as his own respected him to death.

7. (obsolete) To look toward; to face.
   • Sir Thomas Browne

     Palladius adviseth, the front of his house should so respect the South […]

• (to have respect for): esteem, honor, revere, venerate
• (to regard as worthy of special consideration): esteem, value
• (to abide by an agreement): honor

• (to have respect for): contemn, despect (verb) (archaic), despise, dis, diss, disrespect (verb)
• (to regard as worthy of special consideration): belittle, ignore, neglect, slight

respect

1. (Jamaica) hello, hi

• respect in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• respect in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

• Sceptre, recepts, restecp, scepter, sceptre, specter, spectre

From French respect.

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respect n (uncountable)

1. respect

• eerbied

Borrowed from Latin respectus. Doublet of répit.

• IPA^(key): /ʁɛs.pɛ/

• Audio (FR)

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respect m (plural respects)

1. respect

• respecter
• respectueux

• “respect” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• spectre

Borrowed from French respect, Latin respectus.

respect n (uncountable)

1. respect, consideration, deference, esteem, regard

• stimă

• respecta
• respectabil