Mean
Mean adjective - Not following or in accordance with standards of honor and decency.
Usage example: a mean trick to play on a trusting person
Respectable is an antonym for mean.
Respectable
Respectable adjective - Following the accepted rules of moral conduct.
Usage example: cheating is not a respectable thing to do under any circumstances
Mean is an antonym for respectable.
Both words in one sentence
- An orc or goblin is about as likely to be a respectable merchant as a bloodthirsty savage, and the elves are xenophobic semi-necromancers (which, again, doesn't automatically mean "evil").
Source: Van Helsing Hate Crimes -
As technically skilled as she has become (and she does put up a respectable fight), his larger size, reach, strength and experience mean that she is unprepared to defeat him, and only manages to delay him until Jessica arrives to save her.
Source: Series / Jessica Jones -
Even worse is this Sonic Sez, which attempts to teach a respectable Aesop ("Only dial 9-1-1 in a real emergency"), but thanks to his attitude, Sonic inadvertently tells kids that "If you're being attacked by people who mean you harm, calling 9-1-1 would be a dumb joke."
Source: Clueless Aesop
Cite this Source
Respectable and Mean. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 07, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/mean/respectable
Mean & Respectable. N.p., 2016. Web. 07 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/mean/respectable>.
Respectable or Mean. 2016. Accessed August 07, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/mean/respectable.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "mean" and "respectable" have occurred on timeline