What's the difference between gracious and polite?

Gracious


Definition:

  • (a.) Abounding in grace or mercy; manifesting love,. or bestowing mercy; characterized by grace; beneficent; merciful; disposed to show kindness or favor; condescending; as, his most gracious majesty.
  • (a.) Abounding in beauty, loveliness, or amiability; graceful; excellent.
  • (a.) Produced by divine grace; influenced or controlled by the divine influence; as, gracious affections.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) When asked if climate scientists get sick of being asked about records by headline hungry media, he graciously laughed, and said: "For a particular month there is very little significance.
  • (2) Earlier Labour's interim leader, Harriet Harman, told the first post-election meeting of the (PLP) to be "gracious" in defeat.
  • (3) 'I couldn't imagine a worse scenario than not enjoying being Thor, because it's gonna consume a good 10 years of my life' Hemsworth, a gentle giant who seems both grateful and gracious, talks passionately about Thor, with no winking and no weariness.
  • (4) The first tweet was a Qu'ranic phrase in Arabic, meaning: "In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful."
  • (5) The leader of the opposition, Bill Shorten, who sponsored similar legislation earlier this year, deserves credit for pushing the issue forward, and even greater credit for his graciousness in standing aside for the cross-party bill.
  • (6) Over the past year, facilitated by the steering group of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network we were invited through email, personal study, and virtual conferencing, to begin considering how we might live out, with urgency and in hope, the Fifth Mark of Mission “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.” Our reflections entered a new depth when, in February 2015, ACEN chair Archbishop Thabo Makgoba graciously hosted a face to face meeting in South Africa.
  • (7) "McElderry took his defeat graciously, saying: "Fair play to the guys who have organised the Facebook campaign – it's been exciting to be part of a much-hyped battle and they definitely deserve congratulations.
  • (8) * Christine spelled 'defense' and 'offense' in the American style, but I graciously changed them to proper English for her.
  • (9) I always thought The Kumars and Goodness Gracious Me could never have appeared on any other channel; they were BBC2 products.
  • (10) if this was to have been his last game for New York – and possibly the last of his career – he was gracious enough to leave the limelight to the victors.
  • (11) Nina Wadia, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar in the BBC2 comedy sketch show Goodness Gracious Me.
  • (12) On stage with Iggy Pop (left) and Ricky Gardiner (centre) in 1978: ‘Back then he was very spontaneous.’ Photograph: Getty Images But he's a very normal, gracious person.
  • (13) It adds: "As we pursue this community-based approach to school construction, Raising Malawi would like to graciously return the land in Chinkhota granted to us by the government for the original Raising Malawi Academy for Girls project."
  • (14) Djokovic, who remains world No1 was gracious in defeat.
  • (15) "We were graciously received by His Royal Highness, who responded in these terms 'What the bloody hell are you doing here?'
  • (16) As late as 2012, the gracious address contained flecks of modernising reform – the (largely delivered) move to abolish male primogeniture in the monarchy and the (entirely aborted) effort at electing the Lords.
  • (17) The Zona Rosa was fashioned by the city's europhile elite after the revolution; they named its streets after European cities, and built gracious European residences for themselves and the émigrés among them.
  • (18) The Goodness Gracious Me team are reuniting to do a one-off special, we're all very happy to be back together, to commemorate the show and BBC2.
  • (19) He was gracious about Romney, talking not only about his challenger but his father, the former governor of Michigan.
  • (20) It was the Afro-Caribbean Goodness Gracious Me, but before that show.

Polite


Definition:

  • (v.) Smooth; polished.
  • (v.) Smooth and refined in behavior or manners; well bred; courteous; complaisant; obliging; civil.
  • (v.) Characterized by refinement, or a high degree of finish; as, polite literature.
  • (v. t.) To polish; to refine; to render polite.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "Zayani reportedly cited the political sensitivity of naturalising Sunni expatriates and wanted to avoid provoking the opposition," the embassy said.
  • (2) Then a handful of organisers took a major bet on the power of people – calling for the largest climate change mobilisation in history to kick-start political momentum.
  • (3) A diplomatic source said the killing appeared particularly unusual because of Farooq lack of recent political activity: "He was lying low in the past two years.
  • (4) As May delivered her statement in the chamber, police helicopters hovered overhead and a police cordon remained in place around Westminster, but MPs from across the political spectrum were determined to show that they were continuing with business as usual.
  • (5) Anytime they feel parts of the Basic Law are not up to their current standards of political correctness, they will change it and tell Hong Kong courts to obey.
  • (6) I hope this movement will continue and spread for it has within itself the power to stand up to fascism, be victorious in the face of extremism and say no to oppressive political powers everywhere.” Appearing via videolink from Tehran, and joined by London mayor Sadiq Khan and Palme d’Or winner Mike Leigh, Farhadi said: “We are all citizens of the world and I will endeavour to protect and spread this unity.” The London screening of The Salesman on Sunday evening wasintended to be a show of unity and strength against Trump’s travel ban, which attempted to block arrivals in the US from seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
  • (7) Migrant voters are almost as numerous as current Ukip supporters but they are widely overlooked and risk being increasingly disaffected by mainstream politics and the fierce rhetoric around immigration caused partly by the rise of Ukip,” said Robert Ford from Manchester University, the report’s co-author.
  • (8) "There is … a risk that the political, trade, and gas frictions with Russia could lead to strong deterioration in economic relations between the two countries, with a significant drop in Ukraine's exports to and imports from Russia.
  • (9) Faisal Abu Shahla, a senior official in Fatah, an organisation responsible for a good deal of repression of its own when it was in power, accuses Hamas of holding 700 political prisoners in Gaza as part of a broad campaign to suppress dissent.
  • (10) Keep it in the ground campaign Though they draw on completely different archives, leaked documents, and interviews with ex-employees, they reach the same damning conclusion: Exxon knew all that there was to know about climate change decades ago, and instead of alerting the rest of us denied the science and obstructed the politics of global warming.
  • (11) If Cory Bernardi wasn’t currently in a period of radio silence as he contemplates his immediate political future he’d be all over this too, mining the Trumpocalypse – or in our domestic context, mining the fertile political fault line where Coalition support intersects with One Nation support.
  • (12) But Howard added that it may take a while and he is not confident the political reality will change.
  • (13) The size of Florida makes the kind of face-to-face politics of the earlier contests impossible, requiring instead huge ad spending.
  • (14) Nor is this political fantasy: at the European elections in May, across 51 authorities in the north-west and north-east, Ukip finished ahead of Labour in 18 and as its main rival in 30.
  • (15) Speaking to pro-market thinktank Reform, Milburn called for “more competition” and said the shadow health team were making a “fundamental political misjudgment” by attempting to roll back policies he had overseen.
  • (16) Just before Christmas the independent Kerslake report severely criticised Birmingham city council for its dysfunctional politics and, in particular, its handling of the so-called Trojan Horse affair, in which school governors were said to have set out to bring about an Islamic agenda into the curriculum contents and the day-to-day running of some schools.
  • (17) Ukip and the Greens are beneficiaries of this new political reality – as, arguably, is the SNP as it prepares to invade Labour’s heartland in Scotland next May.
  • (18) To safeguard its long-time regional ally, Iran gave full political, economic and military backing to the embattled Syrian president.
  • (19) What’s needed is manifesto commitments from all the main political parties to improve the help single homeless people are legally entitled to.
  • (20) Cameron, who faces intense political pressure from the UK Independence party in the runup to the 2014 European parliamentary elections, believes voters will need to be consulted if the EU agrees a major treaty revision in the next few years.