The word "decorum" is serious and common. It sounds stiff and formal, even snobby, so it's perfect when you want to emphasize how people are being strict and uptight about their rules, especially the unwritten ones—and how they're eager to chide people for breaking those rules. (Down below, when you see the example from Pride and Prejudice, you'll practically hear the speaker clutching her pearls.)

Talk about people learning decorum, exhibiting decorum, behaving with or without decorum, obeying or disobeying decorum, or doing things with or without decorum.

Or, talk about classroom decorum, courtroom decorum, job interview decorum, dinner party decorum, etc.

Or, say that someone has a certain kind of decorum, or the decorum of some kind of person. "He speaks with all the decorum of a museum tour guide." "She stands silently, with the decorum of a royal guard at Buckingham Palace." Here's Maya Angelou: "The men... sat with churchlike decorum." And here's Ralph Ellison: "Dr. Bledsoe [herded the guests toward their seats] with the decorum of a portly head waiter."

Or, talk about decorum itself: say that decorum requires, demands, or suggests that we do such-and-such.

To use the adjective, you could talk about decorous behavior, choices, restraint, silences, self-control, etc. Even music and other atmospheric things can be decorous if they seem gentle, inoffensive, and well conformed to social expectations.

"Colonel Arbuthnot called her Mary and was clearly on terms of intimacy with her. But the Colonel was supposed to have met her only a few days previously. And I know Englishmen of the Colonel's type—even if he had fallen in love with the young lady at first sight, he would have advanced slowly and with decorum, not rushing things." 
   — Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express, 1934

"'To walk three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatever it is, above her ankles in dirt, and alone, quite alone! what could she mean by it? It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country-town indifference to decorum.'"
   — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813

has this page helped you understand "decorum"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "decorum" without saying "social rules" or "proper behavior."

try it out:

Check out this example from Seedfolks, by Paul Fleischman:

"One afternoon Yolanda broke two of her fancy, painted, expensive nails and cursed out loud for ten minutes. Penny couldn't shut her up. Then another woman came over and gave us this long lecture about the word 'decorum.'"

With this example in mind, talk about a time in your childhood when you, too, earned a lecture about decorum. What rule(s) of decorum did you violate? 

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is Palindromes in Poems: Yay!

Check out the snippet of a poem, and supply the missing palindrome: the word spelled the same backward and forward, like "yay," "sees," or "racecar." Highlight the hints if you need them, and see the answer by scrolling all the way down. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

"After Main Street, replications
Of the same petty _____ scenery;
Hearing the ghosts of trains
Crossing between cornfields."   
   — Constance Urdang, "Why They Turned Back/Why They Went On," 1983

To reveal the hints below, highlight the hidden white text.

Hint 1: The number of letters in this palindrome is... five.
Hint 2: The letter that this palindrome starts and ends with is... "C."
Hint 3, because this is a hard one: The meaning of this palindrome is... "having to do with cities, or having to do with public life."

review this word:

1. The precise opposite of DECORUM is INDECORUM. But a pretty close opposite of DECORUM is

A. DISSENT.
B. CRIMINALITY.
C. IMPROPRIETY.

2. In The Hunger Games, _____ cares a great deal about decorum, often _____.

A. Effie Trinket .. insisting on proper manners
B. President Snow .. issuing brutal threats in plain language
C. Katniss Everdeen .. going hungry so her younger sister can eat

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. A Answer to the game question: "After Main Street, replications Of the same petty civic scenery; Hearing the ghosts of trains Crossing between cornfields."       — Constance Urdang, "Why They Turned Back/Why They Went On," 1983

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.