What's the difference between decent and proper?

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.

Proper


Definition:

  • (a.) Belonging to one; one's own; individual.
  • (a.) Belonging to the natural or essential constitution; peculiar; not common; particular; as, every animal has his proper instincts and appetites.
  • (a.) Befitting one's nature, qualities, etc.; suitable in all respect; appropriate; right; fit; decent; as, water is the proper element for fish; a proper dress.
  • (a.) Becoming in appearance; well formed; handsome.
  • (a.) Pertaining to one of a species, but not common to the whole; not appellative; -- opposed to common; as, a proper name; Dublin is the proper name of a city.
  • (a.) Rightly so called; strictly considered; as, Greece proper; the garden proper.
  • (a.) Represented in its natural color; -- said of any object used as a charge.
  • (adv.) Properly; hence, to a great degree; very; as, proper good.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Not only do they give employers no reason to turn them into proper jobs, but mini-jobs offer workers little incentive to work more because then they would have to pay tax.
  • (2) The most successful dyes were phenocyanin TC, gallein, fluorone black, alizarin cyanin BB and alizarin blue S. Celestin blue B with an iron mordant is quite successful if properly handled to prevent gelling of solutions.
  • (3) It is entirely proper for serving judges to set out the arguments in high-profile cases to help public understanding of the legal issues, as long as it is done in an even-handed way.
  • (4) When you have been out for a month you need to prepare properly before you come back.” Pellegrini will make his own assessment of Kompany’s fitness before deciding whether to play him in the Bournemouth game, which he is careful to stress may not be the foregone conclusion the league table might suggest.
  • (5) Photoreactions induced in that proper sensitizer molecules absorb UV-light or visible light.
  • (6) The importance of proper disinfection of such equipment cannot be overemphasized.
  • (7) A good understanding of upper gastrointestinal physiology is required to properly understand the pathophysiological events in various diseases or after operations on the upper gastrointestinal tract.
  • (8) The morbidity is well known and if properly anticipated can be reduced to a minimum by judicious use of antibacterial agents and early surgical intervention when appropriate.
  • (9) Shorten said any arrangement needed to be consistent with international obligations, with asylum seekers afforded due process and their claims properly assessed.
  • (10) Proper function of proteinases such as PA may require focusing of activity on a cellular level.
  • (11) Total excisional biopsy is necessary to properly assess an adenoma microscopically.
  • (12) With attention to proper performance and patient selection, spinal and epidural anaesthesia are safe and efficacious options when choosing anaesthetic technique.
  • (13) For some proteins, properly folded protein may be obtained by secretion from E. coli; however, secretion does not ensure correct folding and protection from proteolytic degradation.
  • (14) These signals can be used as indicators of the proper binding of cAMP because they are not observed on the addition of cGMP or 2'-deoxy-cAMP.
  • (15) Proper maintenance of body orientation was defined to be achieved if the net angular displacement of the head-and-trunk segment was zero during the flight phase of the long jump.
  • (16) Proper education of both managment and labor can result in successful hearing conservation programs.
  • (17) Proper treatment of postoperative atelectasis requires adequate patient assessment and knowledge of the therapeutic options.
  • (18) Proper spinal fluid examination, anticonvulsant drug administration, management of increased intracranial pressure, and correct choice of antibiotics are essential to achieve optimal therapy.
  • (19) So PC.1 is properly classified as a differentiation alloantigen.
  • (20) He sends a low ball into the middle, in the general direction of Fabregas, but the former Arsenal captain can't get ahead of Lahm, who is making a proper nuisance of himself.