as in respectful
marked by or showing proper regard for another's higher status
the family showed a dutiful deference to their minister when he came to dinner
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Recent Examples of dutiful
Even the most recent season of The White Lotus, for all its buzz, at times felt like a dutiful extension of what was once the freshest show on television.
—
Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 27 May 2025
Simone is the dutiful personal assistant for an ultra-wealthy socialite named Michaela (Julianne Moore), whom Devon thinks might also be a murderous cult leader.
—William Earl, Variety, 22 May 2025
Maybe the dutiful nature of this project was its undoing.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 21 May 2025
But by the finale of Season 2, dutiful dot-connecting takes over.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 21 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for dutiful
Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 27 May 2025
Simone is the dutiful personal assistant for an ultra-wealthy socialite named Michaela (Julianne Moore), whom Devon thinks might also be a murderous cult leader.
—William Earl, Variety, 22 May 2025
Maybe the dutiful nature of this project was its undoing.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 21 May 2025
But by the finale of Season 2, dutiful dot-connecting takes over.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 21 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for dutiful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dutiful
Adjective
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European accounts show that the foreigners weren’t just dependent on mestres for help navigating life in Kongo but also respectful of their abilities and manners.—
Livia Gershon,
JSTOR Daily,
12 July 2025
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Like the series, Mask of the Phantasm does a nice job of catering both to kids and adults — this isn’t as intense as the Christopher Nolan films or as kinky as the Tim Burton movies, but it’s smartly written and respectful about what makes the Dark Knight such an evergreen character.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
11 July 2025
Adjective
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The Ptolemaic model depicted planets moving around Earth in a big circle, known as a deferent, then going around a smaller circle while retrograding, called an epicycle.—
Carlie Procell,
USA TODAY,
25 Nov. 2024
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The Ptolemaic model depicted planets moving around Earth in a big circle, known as a deferent, then going around a smaller circle while retrograding, called an epicycle.—
Carlie Procell,
USA Today,
19 Apr. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Dutiful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dutiful. Accessed 20 Jul. 2025.
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