wellbehaved

Well-behaved, also written as wellbehaved, is an adjective used to describe behavior that conforms to expected norms, rules, or stable properties. In everyday use it often refers to a person or animal acting politely, obediently, or without causing trouble. The term is inherently normative and depends on cultural context and situation.

In mathematics, science, and engineering, well-behaved describes objects or models that avoid pathologies and exhibit regular properties. A well-behaved function on an interval is typically continuous and differentiable, without abrupt discontinuities. In dynamical systems, a well-behaved system produces predictable, bounded responses to reasonable inputs.

In physics and computer science, well-behaved can mean systems without singularities within the domain of interest, or algorithms with stable time and space complexity and reliable convergence. In statistics, a well-behaved estimator or model yields consistent, unbiased estimates under standard assumptions.

The phrase is informal; its exact meaning depends on the field and the threshold for “normal” behavior. It is often contrasted with pathological or unstable cases.

Related terms include well-mannered, disciplined, and robust, and in mathematics, “pathological” is used for counterexamples that exhibit unexpected or degenerate behavior. The concept broadly signals reliability and predictability, while remaining contingent on context and standards within a discipline.