Jump to content

dignity

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit]
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Inherited from Middle English dignyte, from Old French dignité, from Latin dignitās (“worthiness, merit, dignity, grandeur, authority, rank, office”), from dignus (“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. Doublet of dainty. In this sense, displaced native Old English weorþsċipe, which became Modern English worship.

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • IPA(key): /ˈdɪɡnɪti/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

[edit]

dignity (countable and uncountable, plural dignities)

  1. The state of being dignified or worthy of esteem: elevation of mind or character.
    • 1751 December (indicated as 1752), Henry Fielding, chapter VIII, in Amelia. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for A[ndrew] Millar […], →OCLC:
      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.
    • 2021, Magdalena Smieszek, “A Brief History of Dignity”, in The Evolving Psyche of Law in Europe: The Psychology of Human Rights and Asylum Frameworks, page 205:
      Historically, dignity has been ascribed to an elite group, but human dignity with reference to humanity and the human family has democratized dignity. […] . The idea of dignity as rank was carried over in Christian doctrine […] .
  2. Decorum, formality, stateliness. (Discuss(+) this sense)
    • 1905, E. M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread , chapter 7, third paragraph:
      The reception room was sacred to the dead wife. Her shiny portrait hung upon the wall - similar, doubtless, in all respects to the one which would be pasted on her tombstone. A little piece of black drapery had been tacked above the frame to lend a dignity to woe. But two of the tacks had fallen out, and the effect was now rakish, as that of a drunkard's bonnet.
    • 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.
    • 2000, Shawn Francis Peters, Judging Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution, page 120:
      The presence of an attorney from Washington, he wrote, "would lend dignity to the proceedings," and it also would "remove the questions of local prejudices and faction from the picture and would have a very fine effect upon the jury."
  3. High office, rank, or station.
  4. One holding high rank; a dignitary.
  5. (obsolete) Fundamental principle; axiom; maxim.
  7. (sometimes proscribed)[1] Respect. (Discuss(+) this sense)
    • a. 1873, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, “Prefatory Memoir”, in Speeches of Edward, Lord Lytton Now First Collected. With Some of His Political Writings Hitherto Unpublished, volume 13, published 1874, page xl:
      That in such an undertaking, if put on its right footing, and treated with dignity by the State, you would have the cheerful assistance of the first scientific teachers who have turned their philosophy to such practical uses, I have no doubt.
    • 1916 March 9, Howard T. Cree, The Christian Century, page 7:
      In my twenty years of ministry I have found that the minister was treated with dignity when he was dignified, that he was accorded authority and leadership when he was worthy of it.
    • 1988, “Licensing of Long-term Care Facilities”, in Code of Massachusetts regulations, 1988, section 150.015, page 3013:
      Patients and residents shall be treated with dignity and kindness at all times.
    • 2011, Kimberly Persiani, ‎Steve Springer, The Organized Teacher's Guide to Classroom Management, page 7:
      Students must always be treated with dignity
    • 2019 October 18, Lenore T. Adkins, “Scientist Sebastian Echeverri Treats Spiders with the Dignity They Deserve”, in AAAS blog:
      In the animal kingdom, spiders are a lot like Rodney Dangerfield — they get no respect, says Sebastian Echeverri, a 2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellow.

Synonyms

[edit]

Coordinate terms

[edit]

Derived terms

[edit]
[edit]

Translations

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Garner, Bryan A. (2022), “dignity”, in Garner's Modern English Usage, 5 edition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN

Anagrams

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=dignity&oldid=89267408"