dignity
English
Etymology
Lua error: The template Template:PIE root does not use the parameter(s):2=deḱPlease see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
From Middle English dignitee, borrowed from Old French dignité, from Latin dīgnitās (“worthiness, merit, dignity, grandeur, authority, rank, office”), from dīgnus (“worthy, appropriate”), from Proto-Italic *degnos, from Proto-Indo-European *dḱ-nos, from *deḱ- (“to take”). See also decus (“honor, esteem”) and decet (“it is fitting”). Cognate to deign.
Pronunciation
Noun
dignity (countable and uncountable, plural dignities)
- The state of being dignified or worthy of esteem: elevation of mind or character.
- 1752, Henry Fielding, Amelia, I. viii
- He uttered this ... with great majesty, or, as he called it, dignity.
- 1981, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art. 5
- Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being.
- 1752, Henry Fielding, Amelia, I. viii
- Decorum, formality, stateliness.
- 1934, Aldous Huxley, "Puerto Barrios", in Beyond the Mexique Bay:
- Official DIGNITY tends to increase in inverse ratio to the importance of the country in which the office is held.
- 1934, Aldous Huxley, "Puerto Barrios", in Beyond the Mexique Bay:
- High office, rank, or station.
- 1781, Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, F. III. 231:
- He ... distributed the civil and military dignities among his favourites and followers.
- Macaulay
- And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this?
- 1781, Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, F. III. 231:
- One holding high rank; a dignitary.
- Bible, Jude 8.
- These filthy dreamers […] speak evil of dignities.
- Bible, Jude 8.
- (obsolete) Fundamental principle; axiom; maxim.
- Sir Thomas Browne
- Sciences concluding from dignities, and principles known by themselves.
- Sir Thomas Browne
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
Related terms
Translations
quality or state
|
formality, stateliness
|
high office or rank
|
See also
- “dignity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “dignity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms borrowed from Old French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Italic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses