adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a polite refusal
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My request was met with a polite refusal.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
always
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Nobody took any notice, but official letters were always polite .
more
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Most people were polite , but we did find that older people were more polite than younger people.
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He became less abrasive, more polite , as he fine-tuned himself in the same way he fine-tuned the company.
so
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He's such a pleasant man, so polite and helpful.
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Always so polite with the Archbishop, a fawning, cloying, false man.
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Male speaker I like the countryside and people are so polite over here.
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Mind if 1 was so polite .
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How could he be so polite when he had been fired by passion only a couple of hours before?
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The term among Rugby Union fanatics is not so polite .
too
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But everyone was too polite to mention it.
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Pale-eyed and pink-skinned, he was always too serious, too smart, too polite , too good.
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Many of us are too polite to resist their pressure and we end up sacrificing our time to their sales pitch.
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We stood squinting into the camera, annoyed at the interruption but too polite to say so.
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Unfortunately he was too polite to show him his own front door after half an hour.
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Was Theresa ready to look? Too polite to object, Helen found herself listening.
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Inder Lal is far too polite to voice his disappointment.
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They were interested, friendly, and much too polite to laugh at behavior they almost certainly felt was peculiar.
unfailingly
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She was unfailingly polite and considerate.
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I had never realized how lovely they were, how kind, how unfailingly polite .
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He is unfailingly polite and tries desperately to understand other people's views.
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They are unfailingly polite and far from revolutionary.
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Quiet, contained, a trifle prissy-but unfailingly polite .
very
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Mr Crawley's very polite to her - you know - pretends to respect her and all that.
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He nodded, and was very polite and respectful, his usual attitude to his skipper.
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He was very polite , however.
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The cousins were very polite and in fact charming.
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He is very cold when he is angry, very polite and correct.
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They are remarkable young people, very polite .
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On the whole it is all very polite and good-humoured.
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You must always be very polite to the nuns.
■ NOUN
applause
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At the end there was polite applause from perhaps half the women.
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This was not a collection that sparked shouts, cheers or even an occasional burst of polite applause .
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I stumbled off to polite applause .
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He received polite applause from perhaps two in the crowd of about 40.
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The keynote speaker had wound up to polite applause .
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His strident 30-minute stump speech was interrupted only a couple of times with polite applause .
company
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Trevor Proby is another, of course, but his notables should not be discussed in polite company .
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With sad paradox, Mr Punch himself became the man in the Bateman cartoon, unwelcome in polite company .
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It was not the sort of thing you did in polite company .
conversation
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This is not the kind of guy who makes polite conversation .
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I wanted live action, not polite conversation and chicken cordon bleu.
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I decided that I had not come all this way only to indulge in polite conversation .
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Even so, there was not much that could be said, other than polite conversation .
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All she'd done was to make a bit of polite conversation !
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He would acknowledge the source - he was not a plagiarist - but his polite conversation was, he knew, poor.
smile
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The next moment she had her face under control, turning towards the door with a polite smile .
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Sabine pinned on a polite smile , and aimed it straight at the oncoming vehicle's windscreen.
society
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The picture adorned Oz's cover, and outraged polite society .
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It was obvious from the scenes that such behavior did not belong in polite society .
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Corydon is a shepherd, and Phillario is a sophisticated man accustomed to polite society .
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As well as dens and thieves' kitchens like the Bush and Tontine Closes, polite society had its problems also.
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Her passion for natural history became increasingly fashionable in polite society during the 17605.
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In the good old days of rampant dualism, the mind was rarely mentioned in polite society .
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Raymond Williams's assessment of Stephen Duck's collapse as a poet once he entered polite society has already been commented upon.
way
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It's the polite way of showing you the door.
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But such coarse mutilation would not have fitted in with the polite way in which Perrault wished to retell his story.
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That's a polite way of putting it, isn't it?
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Nevertheless, it is still possible to request co-operation and compliance with the instructions in a polite way .
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Show your teeth in a firm but polite way - the thing you're afraid of will then become afraid of you.
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This is a polite way of saying that recruitment normally causes chaos in the personnel department.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
polite society
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You don't talk about things like that in polite society .
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As well as dens and thieves' kitchens like the Bush and Tontine Closes, polite society had its problems also.
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Corydon is a shepherd, and Phillario is a sophisticated man accustomed to polite society .
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Her passion for natural history became increasingly fashionable in polite society during the 17605.
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In the good old days of rampant dualism, the mind was rarely mentioned in polite society .
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It was obvious from the scenes that such behavior did not belong in polite society .
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Raymond Williams's assessment of Stephen Duck's collapse as a poet once he entered polite society has already been commented upon.
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The picture adorned Oz's cover, and outraged polite society .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a polite smile
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Did you mean what you said about my dress, or were you just being polite ?
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He seemed a very polite young man.
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I didn't really care what she thought about the book, but I thought it would be polite to ask her.
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It's not considered polite to ask someone how much they earn.
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She's always extremely polite to me, but I never know what she's really thinking.
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The clerks were very polite and helpful.
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The guests were all very polite about the meal, but inside Joan just wanted to cry.
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The last thing I felt like doing was making polite conversation with my roommate's parents.
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We exchanged polite goodbyes before getting on the train.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Be brisk, polite , and put the phone down.
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He is polite with them all.
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He was even polite to all his amateur partners.
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However, when you meet Sean Young she's disarmingly polite and looks as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
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I hope this came across in calm, polite and unthreatening language.
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They were interested, friendly, and much too polite to laugh at behavior they almost certainly felt was peculiar.
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Too polite to object, Helen found herself listening.