What's the difference between decent and fine?

Decent


Definition:

  • (a.) Suitable in words, behavior, dress, or ceremony; becoming; fit; decorous; proper; seemly; as, decent conduct; decent language.
  • (a.) Free from immodesty or obscenity; modest.
  • (a.) Comely; shapely; well-formed.
  • (a.) Moderate, but competent; sufficient; hence, respectable; fairly good; reasonably comfortable or satisfying; as, a decent fortune; a decent person.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Essien, by the way, has been decent so far, other than the error just mentioned.
  • (2) He told strikers at St Thomas’ hospital, London: “By taking action on such a miserable morning you are sending a strong message that decent men and women in the jewel of our civilisation are not prepared to be treated as second-class citizens any more.
  • (3) How, in the name of all that is decent and honest in this world did we let this happen?
  • (4) 1: Good news It's been a scarce commodity throughout the Osborne chancellorship, but he will have a decent amount of it to dish round the chamber – notably lower inflation and higher growth than was being forecast a short while ago.
  • (5) Or we publish only with decent publishers, who believe that books are meant to be read and not simply profited from.
  • (6) Working people want trade policy that supports good jobs and decent wages.
  • (7) Doing the decent thing has guaranteed them an avalanche of applause when next they play at Goodison - in blue or red."
  • (8) It is, in fact, quite astonishing to find British housebuilders and planners going along with the design and construction of such decent new homes.
  • (9) They’d both had decent jobs, but because they didn’t have rich parents, they couldn’t get a big enough deposit to buy a house.
  • (10) If the billions that have been thrown at this programme had been invested in providing teachers with decent, evidence-based training which is “on-the-job”, then standards would have sky-rocketed and we would be vying with the best education systems in the world, such as those in Finland and Singapore.
  • (11) Eddie Howe’s team had decent spells of possession but they could not create anything of clearcut note and Petr Cech reached his heavily signposted milestone as the Premier League’s clean-sheet king without needing to make a serious save.
  • (12) M&S does have a decent alternative use for some of their spare space – food.” About 10 years ago, M&S cut back the amount of space devoted to food in a handful of stores.
  • (13) In the mid-elementary school-aged child the decentering process emphasized by Piaget, together with the emerging capacity for making allowance for the context within which events occur, leads to the dyadic relationship being seen by the child as being mediated through the transactions of two autonomous mental apparatuses.
  • (14) I have to say I think Iran are the poorest team I've seen so far – Nigeria were dreadful in that game but you got the sense that at leas they were a half-decent team playing badly.
  • (15) 8.54pm GMT Somen Tchoyi, who once looked a decent prospect at WBA before being released last year and failing to impress during trials at Wolves and Birmingham, has pitched up in the Bundesliga, where Augsburg have just taken him on.
  • (16) We should have a decent enough budget to put together a squad capable of challenging towards the top, or at least putting up something of a fight in games.
  • (17) His free-kick was decent, he whipped the ball around the ball, but it was half-cleared before it could creep inside the far post.
  • (18) 12.44am BST Ah, here's @NotCoachTito, sitting somewhere idly wondering what it's like in Fenway tonight...actually, he may have a decent idea of the atmosphere.
  • (19) He’s the kind of self-styled intellectual journalist in politics who caused so much trouble in 20th century politics, not a bad man, decent enough in his way, but not as smart as he thinks he is, vain with it.
  • (20) Agroecology guarantees land to peasants, species diversity, decent work and food sovereignty, among other principles.

Fine


Definition:

  • (superl.) Finished; brought to perfection; refined; hence, free from impurity; excellent; superior; elegant; worthy of admiration; accomplished; beautiful.
  • (superl.) Aiming at show or effect; loaded with ornament; overdressed or overdecorated; showy.
  • (superl.) Nice; delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; skillful; dexterous.
  • (superl.) Not coarse, gross, or heavy
  • (superl.) Not gross; subtile; thin; tenous.
  • (superl.) Not coarse; comminuted; in small particles; as, fine sand or flour.
  • (superl.) Not thick or heavy; slender; filmy; as, a fine thread.
  • (superl.) Thin; attenuate; keen; as, a fine edge.
  • (superl.) Made of fine materials; light; delicate; as, fine linen or silk.
  • (superl.) Having (such) a proportion of pure metal in its composition; as, coins nine tenths fine.
  • (superl.) (Used ironically.)
  • (a.) To make fine; to refine; to purify, to clarify; as, to fine gold.
  • (a.) To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.; as. to fine the soil.
  • (a.) To change by fine gradations; as (Naut.), to fine down a ship's lines, to diminish her lines gradually.
  • (n.) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.
  • (n.) A sum of money paid as the settlement of a claim, or by way of terminating a matter in dispute; especially, a payment of money imposed upon a party as a punishment for an offense; a mulct.
  • (n.) A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
  • (n.) A sum of money or price paid for obtaining a benefit, favor, or privilege, as for admission to a copyhold, or for obtaining or renewing a lease.
  • (n.) To impose a pecuniary penalty upon for an offense or breach of law; to set a fine on by judgment of a court; to punish by fine; to mulct; as, the trespassers were fined ten dollars.
  • (v. i.) To pay a fine. See Fine, n., 3 (b).
  • (v. t.) To finish; to cease; or to cause to cease.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The fine structure of neurofibrillary tangles in the hippocampal gyrus, substantia nigra, pontine nuclei and locus coeruleus of the brain was postmortem studied in a case of progressive supranuclear palsy.
  • (2) As a group, the three mammalian proteins resemble bovine serum conglutinin and behave as lectins with rather broad sugar specificities directed at certain non-reducing terminal N-acetylglucosamine, mannose, glucose and fucose residues, but with subtle differences in fine specificities.
  • (3) On the way back to Pristina later, the lawyer told me everything was fine.
  • (4) The move would require some secondary legislation; higher fines for employers paying less than the minimum wage would require new primary legislation.
  • (5) The surface of all cells was covered by a fuzzy coat consisting of fine hairs or bristles.
  • (6) The fine needle aspiration cytology features of twelve peripherally located bronchioloalveolar cell carcinomas of the lung diagnosed by fine needle aspiration biopsy are described.
  • (7) Recognition of this deficiency in our knowledge spurred a belated explosion of research that began with an exploration of the fine structure of the mesothelium.
  • (8) There were pronounced differences from the fine structural aspects in late infantile cases.
  • (9) TCR beta chain gene expression of individual T cell clones that share the same MHC class II restriction and similar fine specificity for the encephalitogenic NH2 terminus of the autoantigen myelin basic protein (MBP) has been examined.
  • (10) The use of sigma 54 promoters, known to require cognate binding proteins, could allow the fine-tuning that provides the temporal ordering of flagellar gene transcription.
  • (11) While there has been almost no political reform during their terms of office, there have been several ambitious steps forward in terms of environmental policy: anti-desertification campaigns; tree planting; an environmental transparency law; adoption of carbon targets; eco-services compensation; eco accounting; caps on water; lower economic growth targets; the 12th Five-Year Plan; debate and increased monitoring of PM2.5 [fine particulate matter] and huge investments in eco-cities, "clean car" manufacturing, public transport, energy-saving devices and renewable technology.
  • (12) That, however, is reserved for the most serious cases and the indications are that a fine is the likely outcome.
  • (13) These findings in a patient with acute leukaemia are strongly suspicious of fungal infection, and percutaneous fine-needle aspiration under ultrasound or computed tomography-guidance is indicated.
  • (14) Any MP who claims this is not statutory regulation is a liar, and should be forced to retract and apologise, or face a million pound fine.
  • (15) There’s a fine line between pushing them to their limits and avoiding injury, and Alberto is a master at it.
  • (16) While circulating the quarries is illegal – you risk a fine of up to €60 – neither the IGC nor the police seem to mind the veteran cataphiles who possess a good knowledge of the underground space, and who respect their heritage.
  • (17) No differences in cell fine structure or in growth factor requirements for cell proliferation were noted between normal and CF cells.
  • (18) of complete tryptic digests of the IRBPs indicate that, although they have in common a similar preponderance of hydrophobic peptides, all three proteins differ extensively in their fine structure.
  • (19) Failure to meet these deadlines, and others listed in the judgement, face a daily fine of 150,000 reais.
  • (20) Nuclear DNA distribution in fine-needle specimens from 112 breast carcinomas and 45 prostatic tumours was studied.