What's the difference between decency and indecency?

Decency


Definition:

  • (n.) The quality or state of being decent, suitable, or becoming, in words or behavior; propriety of form in social intercourse, in actions, or in discourse; proper formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty.
  • (n.) That which is proper or becoming.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This is not some sophisticated, Westminstery battle, but a life-and-death, misery-or-decency choice about the very basics of life for hundreds of thousands of older British people.
  • (2) "Throughout America, the Queen stands for decency and civility."
  • (3) Yes, Goldsmith is to be held in contempt: a man of decency would have rejected this gutter strategy.
  • (4) "Sir Alex Ferguson had the decency to phone me to let me know that he was going in another direction after I applied for the reserve team post at Manchester United in 2003.
  • (5) As Obama put it in her speech today, this isn’t about politics, “it’s about basic human decency”.
  • (6) Having been born in Belgium he didn't start from a belief in the inferiority of other countries, but he loved Britain for the security it offered his family and the gentle decency of our nation."
  • (7) She is talking to Dizzee Rascal, who at least has the decency to goon around for the camera.
  • (8) If Whittingdale had any honour, any mercy, and any basic human decency, he would murder David Attenborough himself today, in his bed, to spare him any further suffering.
  • (9) But we can all probably do without Fifa's "fair play in marketing" lectures, which clothe commercial ruthlessness in the language of sporting decency, apparently oblivious to the impression given by wallpapering every stadium with signs that push BP or declare "We proudly accept only Visa".
  • (10) Neither the Congress nor evaluators have clear concepts of what constitutes a life of decency and dignity for the chronically dependent.
  • (11) At 6ft 3in tall, the lanky Peck was a pillar of moral rectitude standing up for decency and tolerance.
  • (12) Austerity as we know it – where basic human decency is sacrificed to solutions that purport to be cheaper but turn out not to be – actually started before the austerity narrative.
  • (13) Decency is one of those lines.” Erickson also told reporters: “I don’t want to put words in [Trump’s] mouth and I hate using the label misogynist because I think its used too much but he’s suggesting a woman as a lady asked him a question and did so because it was her time of the month.
  • (14) I hope David Cameron has the decency to invite you around for coffee or lunch as Tony Blair and David Blunkett did once I was out.
  • (15) A former director general of the prison service, Martin Narey, who now has a contract with the firm as a consultant on decency in G4S prisons, says he was once vehemently opposed to private-sector involvement in the prison service before he was appointed in 1998.
  • (16) Few would challenge the Camerons' fundamental decency.
  • (17) Looking first at the smaller politics, the attack by Fallon on Miliband’s decency and fitness for No 10 was a risky play by the Tories.
  • (18) In Uncommon Danger, the representatives of communism and what Zaleshoff calls "moderate radicalism" but Kenton himself would probably think of as basic human decency are pitted against the agents of capital and fascism: Balterghen, Saridza and their many cronies.
  • (19) But the depth of this tragedy also drew out the decency and determination of our nation.
  • (20) Fry wrote: "I gather a repulsive nobody writing in a paper no one of any decency would be seen dead with has written something loathsome and inhumane.

Indecency


Definition:

  • (n.) The quality or state of being indecent; want of decency, modesty, or good manners; obscenity.
  • (n.) That which is indecent; an indecent word or act; an offense against delicacy.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Perhaps he is instinctively more forgiving about avoiding tax, which some right-wingers always regard as an indecent affront, than the free use of public funds.
  • (2) The retired judge’s report outlines multiple rapes and indecent assaults on children by Savile, which she claims were all “in some way associated with the BBC”.
  • (3) In overturning the fine, the court today found that the commission had long "practiced restraint" in exercising its authority to sanction broadcasters for indecent content, and that the mammoth fine was an improper departure from that.
  • (4) Zimmerman was charged with an offence of sending by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene, menacing message or matter.
  • (5) Of those convicted of indecent assault on persons under 16 and of gross indecency with children, 48% had a previous history of psychiatric disorder.
  • (6) In Romania in October a man was subsequently charged with producing and distributing indecent images of children and blackmail.
  • (7) The man behind the hamster story was the British publicist Max Clifford, the disgraced PR guru who was convicted in May of eight counts of indecent assaults on four women.
  • (8) Allen admitted three sexual assaults, one assault by penetration and one charge of distributing indecent photographs.
  • (9) He also faced numerous charges relating to his time working as a “spiritual healer” – including 22 counts of aggravated sexual assault and 14 counts of aggravated indecent assault – and had been bailed for allegedly being an accessory to the killing of his former wife.
  • (10) He was dishonourably discharged from the army on a charge of indecency, roamed Europe as a vagrant, thief and homosexual prostitute, then spent a lengthy period in and out of jail in Paris following a dozen or so arrests for larceny, the use of false papers, vagabondage and lewd behaviour.
  • (11) Three fellow activists from the group, Femen , are on trial for public indecency after demonstrating topless in front of Tunisia's Palace of Justice.
  • (12) George, 39, hung her head as she admitted seven sexual assaults and six counts of distributing and making indecent pictures of children.
  • (13) They have been charged with public indecency and being a threat to public order.
  • (14) It has been a great privilege to have been involved in this sale and we are immensely pleased that all the people who bid for this unique item and indeed the wider public have recognised Turing’s importance and place in history.” Turing, whose work cracking the German codes was vital to the British war effort, was convicted in 1952 of gross indecency with a 19-year-old man.
  • (15) He was prosecuted under section 127(1) of the Communications Act 2003, which prohibits sending "by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character".
  • (16) On Wednesday, Sboui appeared before an investigating judge in Kairouan who is considering the charges; they include public indecency, desecrating a cemetery and belonging to a band of malefactors seeking to damage public property.
  • (17) In the resulting viral video , “Gertrude” said what worried her most about the Freedom party’s politics was that they brought out “the basest in people – not the decent, but the indecent” – adding “and it’s not the first time something like this has happened”.
  • (18) The X Factor judge Louis Walsh is threatening libel action against the Sun after being told by Irish police that he was no longer under investigation for an alleged indecent assault.
  • (19) Because the legal interpretation of terms like “debauchery” or “public indecency” is so broad, sentences are often maximised by judges who “stack” similarly-worded offences.
  • (20) Alexander Walker, film critic at the Evening Standard, damned the movie as "monstrously indecent", prompting Russell to attack him with a rolled-up copy of his own newspaper.