The phrase "achieve respectability" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing the process of gaining a positive reputation or social acceptance, often after a period of being viewed negatively.
Example: "After years of hard work and dedication, the organization was finally able to achieve respectability in the community."
Alternatives: "gain credibility" or "attain legitimacy".
With too much quality to be concerned about relegation, but almost certainly not enough to end the season knocking on the door of Europe, Sunderland look stonewall certainties to comfortably achieve respectability this season, although quite what position will be respectable enough to keep the punters happy remains to be seen.
This rankled Sam Lacy and other advocates of integration, who pointed at the grievous injustice being perpetrated in the nation's capital: black American stars excelled for the Grays, while the Senators made a desperate attempt to achieve respectability by hiring foreigners.
Honoré de Balzac was born into a family which had struggled nobly to achieve respectability.
He seemed to have achieved respectability.
But leading scientists are unlikely to take it up until it achieves respectability.
They have achieved respectability, but that is just one step on the path toward a greater goal.
It was with its introduction into Harrow School in 1822 that rackets achieved respectability and was enclosed within four walls.
It also came as the Nationals, who had moved here from Montreal in 2005, had finally achieved respectability and were poised to take a big leap forward.
Dennis devastatingly showed that it is easy enough to invent a new religion, but that it will inexorably lead to sacrifice and ritual slaughter before achieving respectability.
Perhaps, if the subject ever achieves respectability, media-studies undergraduates will pore over the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine scare in 21st-century Britain.On November 28th the Health Protection Agency HPAA), which monitors infectious diseases, said that there were 1,049 cases of measles in England and Wales in the ten months to October 2008.
James Kettle The rest of this week's comedy FILM EVENTS John Waters season (BFI Southbank, London, Tuesday to 6 October) Long before he achieved respectability – or at least the nearest he was ever going to get – John Waters's reputation as a purveyor of cheerfully disreputable filth was assured.
