Literary notes about reputable (AI summary)
In literature, "reputable" is often employed as a marker of social respectability and moral credibility. Authors use it to signal that a person, institution, or practice aligns with established standards of honor and reliability, as when respectable citizens serve on a jury [1] or when a character is said to have returned to reputable life [2]. The term also highlights a distinction between esteemed establishments—like a reputable college or a trustworthy firm—and those that lack such legitimacy [3, 4]. It may even serve an ironic role by contrasting elegant public appearances with underlying societal flaws [5], or by emphasizing the importance of lineage and background in a character’s standing [6, 7, 8].
- The jury were men of fair and reputable characters, but zealous royalists: after a short deliberation, they brought in the prisoner guilty.
— from The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part F.From Charles II. to James II. by David Hume - If I have fought my way back to reputable life again—” He paused, and took from his pocket a handkerchief.
— from The Battle of the Strong: A Romance of Two Kingdoms — Complete by Gilbert Parker - No reputable scientific journal would undertake to publish it.
— from A Librarian's Open Shelf: Essays on Various Subjects by Arthur E. (Arthur Elmore) Bostwick - A diploma from a reputable college or normal school.
— from Elements of Civil Government A Text-Book for Use in Public Schools, High Schools and Normal Schools and a Manual of Reference for Teachers by Alexander L. Peterman - So flagrant became the political scandals that reputable men began to leave politics alone, and politics consequently became disreputable.
— from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois - The Shackfords had always been reputable people in the village,--down to Lemuel Shackford, who of course as an old musk-rat.
— from The Stillwater Tragedy by Thomas Bailey Aldrich - She is in a reputable family, no less than a bishop's, and is to wait on his lady, till I get the matter over that I mentioned to you.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - John Mollius was born at Rome, of reputable parents.
— from Fox's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe
