deign

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (2)  · 
“
But he did not so deign, and therefore he had full right to imply that, if he had written an epic, a drama, a novel, a history, a metaphysical treatise, Milton, Shakspeare,

View all »
Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. intransitive verb To think it appropriate to one's dignity; condescend: wouldn't deign to greet the servant who opened the door. See Synonyms at stoop1.
  2. transitive verb To condescend to give or grant; vouchsafe. "Nor would we deign him burial of his men” (Shakespeare).

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • As for me I only addressed these words to God Lord, if my enemy kill me, I shall be damned; deign, therefore, to preserve me from death. —  Russia and Poland
  • He did not deign, Christine noticed, to justify his appearance at this particular entertainment to Melanie. —  SlightlyDangerous
  • If thou wilt deign, great goddess, to try thy skill against the skill of the dyer's daughter and dost prove the victor, behold me gladly willing to pay the penalty The eyes of Athené, the grey-eyed goddess, grew dark as the sea when a thunder-cloud hangs over it and a mighty storm is coming. —  A Book of Myths
  • "If you would deign, madame, to accept this trifle as an earnest of our indebtedness, we There is a tinge of haughtiness in her manner as she interrupts him You do not appear to understand, Bohmer, that the matter does not at all concern me. —  The Historical Nights' Entertainment First Series
  • Why did this great lord, so near home in his progress--his fief was in Ko[u]shu[u]--deign thus to rest? —  Bakemono Yashiki (The Haunted House), Retold from the Japanese Originals Tales of the Tokugawa, Volume 2
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 182 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

mightst ·  vouchsafe ·  staie ·  wunna ·  archidiaconal ·  everyzing

Used in the same contextWord Family

deign:   deigned
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English deinen, from Old French deignier, to regard as worthy, from Latin dignārī, from dignus, worthy; see dek- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English deignen, deynen, daynen, from Old French deigner, daigner, degner, French daīgner = Provencal denhar = Spanish Portuguese dignar = Italian degnare, deign, from Latin dignari, deem worthy, from dignus, worthy: see dignity and dainty, and cf. dain, disdain, dedain.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/deɪn/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a month.

Recently looked up

phantasmagoric · enterprise · condottieri · vitality · gelatin

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Glockenspiel · Ersatz · Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid · Haifischschwanzflossenfleischsuppe · Der Kottbusser Postkutscher putzt den Kottbusser Postkutschkasten