Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To conduct or behave (oneself) in a particular manner: demeaned themselves well in class.
- v. To debase, as in dignity or social standing: professionals who feel demeaned by unskilled work.
- v. To humble (oneself). See Synonyms at degrade.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To lead; guide; conduct.
- To conduct; manage; control; exercise; do.
- Reflexively, to behave; carry; conduct.
- n. Dealing; management; treatment.
- n. Mien; demeanor; behavior; conduct.
- To debase; lower; lower the dignity or standing of; bemean. [This is in origin a misuse of demean by association with the adjective mean. Being thus illegitimate in origin and inconvenient in use, from its tendency to be confused with demean in its proper sense, the word is avoided by scrupulous writers. See
bemean .] - n. Same as demain.
Wiktionary
- v. To debase; to lower; to degrade.
- v. To humble, humble oneself; to humiliate.
- v. To mortify.
- n. demesne.
- n. resources; means.
- v. To manage; to conduct; to treat.
- v. To conduct; to behave; to comport; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun.
- n. archaic Management; treatment.
- n. archaic Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To manage; to conduct; to treat.
- v. To conduct; to behave; to comport; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun.
- v. To debase; to lower; to degrade; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun.
- n. obsolete Management; treatment.
- n. obsolete Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor.
- n. obsolete Demesne.
- n. obsolete Resources; means.
WordNet 3.0
- v. reduce in worth or character, usually verbally
Etymologies
- Middle English demenen, demeinen, from Anglo-Norman demener, from Old French demener, from de- + mener ("to conduct, lead"), from Latin mināre and Latin minārī "to threaten" (Wiktionary)
- Middle English demeinen, to govern, from Old French demener : de-, de- + mener, to conduct (from Latin mināre, to drive (animals), from minārī, to threaten, from minae, threats; see men-2 in Indo-European roots).de- + mean2. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The fact that people choose to run for public office and put themselves out there for others to ridicule and demean is fascinating.”
“Their favorite word seems to be "demean" - as in the governor is trying to demean them and their vocation.”
“Just to savor this for a moment, consider that Martinez said above that it would "demean" the service of the troops to support Webb's measure, because we mustn't "say to them that there had to be a parity between the time in service out of the country and the time at home.”
RNC Chair Martinez: Passing Troop-Rest Bill Would "Demean The Troops"
“The argument here appears to be that because the amount of service our troops have performed shows that they are heroic, it would hence "demean" them to reduce that amount of service by giving them longer rest time -- because it would deprive them of more time to be heroic.”
RNC Chair Martinez: Passing Troop-Rest Bill Would "Demean The Troops"
“They kind of demean Ann Coulter into becoming this unwomanlike thing.”
Joseph Minton Amann and Tom Breuer: Media Drunk Tank: Officer O'Reilly
“Dlamini-Zuma said it was very important not to "demean" the importance of this declaration.”
“Council convenor Helene Marsh, dean of graduate research at James Cook University, said the universities 'plans to badge professional masters qualifications as doctorates would "demean" the PhD.”
“He said although he would "love to multiply" attendances by 100, it did not 'demean' the meeting.”
Axe 'business development' spending, say residents (From Bucks Free Press)
“Countries such as Japan and Finland hire the best young teachers, pay them well, and show them the respect they deserve, while we tend to demean our teachers and our public schools.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘demean’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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meaning
bemean, demean, meaningful, meaningless, meant, intermean, misdemeanor, means, cadmean, meanwhile, permeance, idumean and 59 more...
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GRE Readings
conclusive, derivative, conviction, affected, ample, defiance, bid, conception, demean, converse, compliance, base and 133 more...
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ash vocab
flippant, fillip, expiate, explicate, extirpate, facile, florid, fealty, allegiance, fetid, febrile, pert and 134 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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common words
mei- root words, a changing mixture
common, communion, community, meatus, conge, permeate, irremeable, mew, molt, mutate, commute, permute and 87 more...
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social hierarchy
it is part of living
humiliate, degrade, superior, inferior, embarrass, belittle, demean, subordinate, submissive, dominant, overbearing, domineering
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insult, humiliate, degrade
Behave in a way so as to belittle or degrade (someone).
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