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Glite Dictionary
🍕 Salty or spicy 👍 Respectable 🌿 A cooking herb 🥧 A small dish
savory

savory

3 5.9
Has a good reputation for honest actions
  • adjective
  • /ˈseɪvəri/
  • US
translation icon : respetable
  • Many people admire her for her savory reputation in the community, as she always helps those in need.
  • less-than-savory

It's not very savory for moral philosophy or or social theory.

Examples

  • Among the most savory are Garner's Modern American Usage, Fowler's Modern English Usage, and The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Crystal couldn't really fault that, because the opportunities for women were limited, even Philistine women, and Scylla's reputation was none too savory.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Because these platforms are of fine quality, William and his team (two of his assistants, Jay and Towner, have a solid savory background) are able to build on them layer after layer of tastes and aromas, and the customers flock in: the savory program accounts for one third of all sales at the bakery.

    Blog text (1)

  • His actions over the years have ensured that he is regarded as a savory figure among his peers.

  • Despite rumors circulating, she has always maintained a savory standing in the industry.

Antonyms

unsavory
  • US
29 7.2

Something people think is morally wrong or dishonest

dishonorable
  • US
23 6.0

Not honest or fair and causing shame

disreputable
9 7.1

Not trusted or respected because of bad behavior

Compounds

savory snack
  • US
2.7

A small food that tastes salty or spicy rather than sweet

savory stew
  • US
1.8

A hot dish where meat and vegetables cook slowly in a tasty liquid

summer savory
6.4

An herb with small leaves and a pleasant smell that you use to add flavor to food

winter savory
7.5

A small cooking herb with a peppery taste like thyme

How Respectable

upright
15 4.0
honorable
  • US
253 3.7
savory
  • US
3 5.9
respectable
114 3.0
decent
305 1.6

Surface Forms

savory positive
savoury positive

Morphology

savory = savor (semi-transparent) = savor + y

The moral sense is a metaphorical extension from 'pleasant' or 'agreeable' taste to 'respectable' character, so the link is not immediately obvious to all learners.

Etymology

Savory in the sense of 'morally respectable' is a helpful stretch from the idea of 'pleasant' or 'agreeable'; the word links back to sapor 'taste' so it came to mean someone or something with a good, acceptable reputation. That's why a person's history can be called savory when it seems proper and above doubt.