POLITE (adj)

1. showing good manners toward others, as in behavior, speech, etc.; courteous; civil: a polite reply.
2. refined or cultured: polite society.
3. of a refined or elegant kind: polite learning.
—Syn. 1. well-bred, gracious. See civil. 2. urbane, polished, poised, courtly, cultivated.
—Ant. 1, 2. rude.

* Excerpted from the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary 3.0.