From Middle English respect, from Old French respect, also respit ("respect, regard, consideration"), from Latin respectus, perfect passive participle of respiciō ("look at, look back upon, respect"), from re- ("back") + speciō ("to see").

• IPA: /ɹɪˈspɛkt/

respect

1. (uncountable) an attitude of consideration or high regard

   Synonyms: deference, esteem, consideration, regard, fealty, reverence, aught

   He is an intellectual giant, and I have great respect for him.

2. (uncountable) good opinion, honor, or admiration

   Synonyms: admiration, esteem, reverence, regard, recognition, veneration, honor

3. (uncountable, always plural) Polite greetings, often offered as condolences after a death.

   The mourners paid their last respects to the deceased poet.

4. (countable) a particular aspect, feature or detail of something

   Synonyms: aspect, dimension, face, facet, side

   This year's model is superior to last year's in several respects.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 36”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC ↗:

     In our two loves there is but one respect

5. Good will; favor
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Exodus 2:25 ↗:

     And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

• belittlement
• contempt
• contumely
• despect noun (archaic)

• disdain
• disparagement
• disrespect noun
• ignoring
• irreverence
• neglect
• scorn
• slight

• respective

• French: respect
• German: Achtung, Respekt
• Italian: rispetto
• Portuguese: respeito
• Russian: уваже́ние
• Spanish: respeto

• Italian: rispetto

• Portuguese: respeito, reverência
• Spanish: respeto

• Italian: riguardo, materia
• Portuguese: respeito
• Spanish: respeto

respect (respects, present participle respecting; simple past and past participle respected)

1. To have respect for.

   She is an intellectual giant, and I respect her greatly.

2. To have regard for something, to observe a custom, practice, rule or right.

   I respect your right to hold that belief, although I think it is nonsense.

   I respect your right to feel offended, even though most people, myself included, totally disagree and don’t find the comment offensive in the slightest.

3. To abide by an agreement.

   They failed to respect the treaty they had signed, and invaded.

4. To take notice of; to regard as worthy of special consideration; to heed.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene i] ↗:

     [T]hou reſpecteſt not ſpilling Edwards bloud: [...]

   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC ↗, page 33 ↗:

     We haue also large and various Orchards, and Gardens; Wherein we doe not ſo much reſpect Beauty, as Variety of Ground and Soile, proper for diuerſe Trees and Herbs: [...]

5. (transitive, dated except in "respecting") To relate to; to be concerned with.
   • 1674, John Owen, Pneumatologia:

     Whatever they are else, they are always chastisements; and correction respects faults.

   • 1806, James Lee, An Introduction to Botany:

     Glandulation respects the secretory vessels, which are either glandules, follicles, or utricles.

   • 1859 December 12, Charles Dickens, “The Mortals in the House”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Haunted House. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Whiting, […], →OCLC ↗, page 4 ↗, column 2:

     I hope I may never again be in a state of mind so unchristian as the mental frame in which I lived for some weeks, respecting the memory of Master B.

6. (obsolete) To regard; to consider; to deem.
   • c. 1597, Ben. Jonson, A Pleasant Comedy, Called: The Case is Alterd. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Bartholomew Sutton, and William Barrenger, […], published 1609, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene iii] ↗:

     [T]his my friend (knowen by no name) was found, / Being then a child and ſcarce of power to ſpeake, / To whom my father gaue this name of Gaſper, / And as his own reſpected him to death, [...]

     That is, regarded him as his own.

7. (obsolete) To look toward; to face.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of East and West”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC ↗, 6th book, page 263 ↗:

     That Palladius adviſeth the front of his edifice ſhould ſo reſpect the South, that in the firſt angle it receive the riſing raies of the winter Sunne, and decline a little from the winter ſetting thereof.

• (to have respect for) esteem, honor, revere, venerate
• (to regard as worthy of special consideration) esteem, value
• (to abide by an agreement) honor

• (antonym(s) of “to have respect for”): contemn, despect (archaic), despise, dis, diss, disrespect
• (antonym(s) of “to regard as worthy of special consideration”): belittle, ignore, neglect, slight

• French: respecter
• German: respektieren
• Italian: rispettare
• Portuguese: respeitar
• Russian: уважа́ть
• Spanish: respetar

• German: respektieren
• Portuguese: respeitar
• Russian: уважа́ть

• German: respektieren
• Portuguese: respeitar
• Russian: уважа́ть

1. (Jamaica) hello, hi