What's the difference between affable and courteous?

Affable


Definition:

  • (a.) Easy to be spoken to or addressed; receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner; courteous; sociable.
  • (a.) Gracious; mild; benign.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The claim has stunned a community who knew him not as a pale spectre in Taliban videos but as the tall, affable young man who served coffee and deftly fended off jokes about Billy Elliot – he did ballet along with karate, fencing, paragliding and mountain biking.
  • (2) He is affable but hyperactive, or maybe he has consumed too much white powder.
  • (3) As a businessman I had an obligation.” He also contrasted his alleged affability with Clinton’s remark during the first Democratic debate that she viewed Republicans as “an enemy”.
  • (4) When he appeared on Desert Island Discs, for example, Kirsty Young expressed surprise that he was so affable and giving, wondering aloud why she might have thought otherwise.
  • (5) Musk has a reputation for being prickly but when I meet him at SpaceX , his headquarters west of Los Angeles, he is affable and chatty, cheerfully expounding on space exploration, climate change, Richard Branson and Hollywood.
  • (6) His decisiveness and affability were valuable assets, but much more than this, he was one of the few who sought both to understand and to explain what was happening.
  • (7) It turns up at quarter to ten, deposited by an affable chap in a uniform.
  • (8) Lucky Richard was assigned to Poke ’s most affable hosts, the restaurant critic Tracey MacLeod and her colleague, the rapper LL Cool J , who plied him with fudge and polystyrene all day, while I was understandably ignored by my master, a capable young comic newspaper columnist called Michael Andrew Gove.
  • (9) Talha Asmal, 17, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire , who reportedly detonated a vehicle fitted with explosives while fighting for the militant group in Iraq, was described as “a loving, kind, caring and affable teenager” by his devastated family.
  • (10) Speaking after the event, which was not open to journalists, the shareholder described Grade as "affable", but questioned whether he had delivered for investors.
  • (11) But in the meantime, they can continue to muddle along as they are: affable, a bit posh and fine with it.
  • (12) It's all the fault of that blasted weather, of course, but the affable Stan Wawrinka isn't happy, the Swiss taking aim at the tournament organisers for messing up his schedule, making him play a possible five matches in seven days and potentially wrecking his hopes of adding to the Australian Open he won in January.
  • (13) He was bright, intrepid, determined and full of character ... A very talented footballer and magnificent marine he had a lot to be proud of, yet I knew him to be an affable, generous, loyal and modest young man."
  • (14) Rwanda has a flourishing economy and well-oiled PR machine, and the affable Kagame uses that most democratic of media, Twitter .
  • (15) Some people have encountered an affable man with a beard and a hat.
  • (16) Boehner was referring to a Wall Street Journal report quoting an unnamed "senior administration official" as saying: “We are winning…It doesn’t really matter to us” how long the shutdown lasts “because what matters is the end result.” Boehner says he's known for his affable demeanor and fair-mindedness.
  • (17) By contrast it was the outwardly affable Harold Macmillan who pulled off a gruesome "night of the long knives", ditching a third of his cabinet overnight in an exercise named after Hitler's rather bloodier dispatching of his own lieutenants in the SA.
  • (18) Its affable 79-year-old owner, Salome Gutiérrez, has extended Del Bravo to include a Tejas y su Musica (The Texas Music Museum) honouring Lydia and other local artists.
  • (19) If Obama can get his proposals through Congress, the affable economist will have a lasting memorial in the Volcker Rule.
  • (20) He described O'Brien as a "very affable, warm and hospitable" man who was always unafraid to speak his mind.

Courteous


Definition:

  • (a.) Of courtlike manners; pertaining to, or expressive of, courtesy; characterized by courtesy; civil; obliging; well bred; polite; affable; complaisant.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) As a person, she was always kind and courteous and as a leader she was steely and determined.
  • (2) None of the backbench questions where MPs often raise serious problems that tend to be dealt with courteously by the prime minister of the day (although regrettably often neither side can resist point-scoring) ever make it beyond Today in Parliament .
  • (3) Praising the protesters for their conduct during the hearing, he said: "Whilst I recognise that this outcome will be disappointing to the defendants, I wish to pay tribute to all who participated in the hearing for the courteous and helpful way in which they conducted themselves."
  • (4) From the typed letters on Clarence House notepaper underlined in his own hand, to the clever blend of courteousness and implied threat used in his own correspondence and by his righthand man, Sir Michael Peat, the case has revealed in detail how the prince wields his power.
  • (5) Referring to the protesters, he said: "Whilst I recognise that this outcome will be disappointing to the defendants, I wish to pay tribute to all who participated in the hearing for the courteous and helpful way in which they conducted themselves."
  • (6) It is noted that: 1) both GPs and clinics have their value in contraceptive treatment; 2) clinics should be conveniently located and might be set up in buildings which are used for other health purposes at other times; 3) most women work so there should be evening sessions; 4) arrangements should be made which include both an appointments system and emergency visits; 5) reception at the clinic should be courteous and without moral judgements; 6) domiciliary services should be used only as a last resort; and 7) payment of prescription charges is now required, but there might be advantages in changing this to a free service.
  • (7) Half of each sample rated the average driver in their age group and the average driver in the opposite age group as regarded thirty-three attitudes promoting safe driving, twenty courteous safe driving behaviors and eleven discourteous, unsafe driving behaviors.
  • (8) Both companies have pointed out the human error inherent in more than 90% of traffic accidents; Chris Urmson, director of Google’s project, said last year that ultimately the goal is for its cars to be “more courteous and more defensive drivers” than human beings.
  • (9) When Murphy resumed his 100-town tour off Edinburgh’s Princes Street on Tuesday he was energetic and courteous, praising both sides for their patriotism: “No one in this debate is a traitor, no one is a quisling.” The remark was directed at angry, even threatening hecklers ( he posted the evidence on YouTube ) who had called Murphy both and forced him to suspend the tour temporarily.
  • (10) General principles of action include letting patients or relatives have their say, remaining calm, empathic, courteous, objective and sharing information with patients.
  • (11) The one word, "Willie", came to conjure up a decent, slightly slow, endlessly courteous country squire, who liked his food and drink and got on with everyone he dealt with - no mean feat for someone educated at that supremely elitist institution, Winchester.
  • (12) However, Israeli sources described the telephone conversations as friendly and courteous attempts to persuade Kunugi to delay the working group’s decision on its recommendation regarding the IDF until Israel had been allowed to present its case on the issue.
  • (13) But he is courteous, wry, insightful and very much on the left of his party.
  • (14) Low key and courteous, he confirmed there had indeed been such an MI5 file on me and that I had been under regular surveillance.
  • (15) They also want to know that it’s going to be a safe product.” Trump has not completely kept to his new, more courteous script.
  • (16) Laidlaw gently pawed her into position, confirming without doubt the date of the lunch, challenging the strength of her memory until she insisted she was absolutely certain and then, like Hannibal Lecter in a horsehair wig, softly and courteously, he cut out her heart: the incident with Kemp had happened six weeks after the lunch.
  • (17) He is courteous, almost jovial, though not quite endearing.
  • (18) He is courteous and polite, and good fun – not attributes you always associate with people connected with fashion.
  • (19) Abbott promised to reply “swiftly, fully and courteously” to Yudhoyono’s letter, in a statement to parliament on Wednesday night.
  • (20) It is certainly true that, away from the stage, the controversial, much-reviled comedian and club owner Manning, who has died aged 76 following a kidney problem, could be a polite, generous and courteous man, referring when appropriate to people as gay or black, for example, once he was off stage.