The most popular online dictionary and thesaurus for learners of English
mind your p's and q's
old-fashionedDefinition
› to make an effort to be especially polite in a particular situation: I have to mind my p's and q's when I'm with my grandmother.Manners and levels of formalityPolite and respectful
(Definition of mind your p's and q's from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
Browse related topics
You are looking at an entry to do with Manners & levels of formality, but you might be interested in these topics from the Society topic area:
- Activism & pressure groups
- Class & class-consciousness in general
- Emergency services in general
- Fire service
- Homelessness
- Human rights
- Named organizations & societies & their members
- Names of groups of people who lived in the past
- Ordinary people
- Organizations - charities
- Organizations - joining & leaving
- Organizations - position & status
- Organizations, Societies & clubs
- Racial issues
- Royalty, aristocracy & titles
- Servants, slaves & underlings
- Social order & disorder
- Social security & state benefits
- Social services & sanitation
- Society - general words
- Unemployment
Browse the Dictionary
Browse the Thesaurus
SMART Thesaurus: Manners & levels of formality
Synonyms and related words:
- buttoned-down adjective
- ceremonious adjective
- ceremony noun (FORMAL BEHAVIOUR)
- decency noun
- decorum noun
- formal adjective (SERIOUS)
- formally adverb (SERIOUSLY/CORRECTLY)
- genteel adjective
- gentility noun
- grace noun (POLITENESS)
- ground rules noun
- impropriety noun
- propriety noun
- pukka adjective
- refinement noun (POLITENESS)
- solemnity noun
- stand on ceremony idiom
- stiff adjective (NOT RELAXED)
- stiffly adverb (NOT RELAXED)
- valediction noun
Our dictionaries
Word of the Day
Blog
Read our blog about how the English language behaves.
New Words
Find words and meanings that have just started to be used in English, and let us know what you think of them.
