deign
Americanverb (used without object)
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deigns,
present (3rd person singular)
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deigned,
past participle, past
-
deigning
present participle
verb (used with object)
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deigns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
deigned,
past participle, past
-
deigning
present participle
-
to condescend to give or grant.
He deigned no reply.
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Obsolete. to condescend to accept.
verb
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(intr) to think it fit or worthy of oneself (to do something); condescend
he will not deign to speak to us
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archaic (tr) to vouchsafe
he deigned no reply
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deignsimple
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deignssimple
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have deignedperfect
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has deignedperfect
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am deigningprogressive
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are deigningprogressive
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is deigningprogressive
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have been deigningperfect progressive
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has been deigningperfect progressive
Past
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deignedsimple
-
had deignedperfect
-
was deigningprogressive
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were deigningprogressive
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had been deigningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deign
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English deinen, de(i)gnen, from Old French de(i)gnier, from Latin dignārī, dignāre “to judge worthy,” equivalent to dign(us) “worthy” + -ārī infinitive suffix
Explanation
Deign means to reluctantly agree to do something you consider beneath you. When threatened with the loss of her fortune, an heiress might deign to get a job, but she might look down her nose at the people she'd have to work with. Deign has the same origins as dignity. Both descend from the Latin word, dignare, meaning "to deem worthy." If you deign to do something, you don't feel it's worthy of your lofty stature, but you do it anyway — it's like you're doing someone a really big favor. Instead of admitting his wrongdoing, the politician who is accused of taking bribes might indignantly declare, "I won't deign to dignify your ridiculous accusations with a response!"
Vocabulary lists containing deign
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
While I would never deign to speak for all critics — I’ve been around enough to know I don’t need that smoke — we’re not generally fans of inscrutability.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
They also each serve the same purpose: to keep the public distant, confused, and grateful for whatever miserly scraps of information the justices deign to release to us.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
No, they’re hardworking people, others maintained, who’ve come for jobs no American would deign to do.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2024
Brown and black bears focus on the oily brains and nutritious roe of salmon when the fish are abundant and deign to chow down on whole fish only in years when salmon aren’t plentiful.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 11, 2023
Elinor didn’t even deign to reply to this suggestion.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
His Ray always seems to be hiding behind a motorcycle visor even when he’s not and when he deigns to speak, the words trail off in a huff of exhaustion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2026
More than that, he also secured a prized meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a head of government who rarely deigns to trouble himself with mere foreign ministers.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2024
Tristan, when he finally deigns to see her, is already in the shadow of night.
From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2022
Beginning the documentary's in the thick of that wreckage establishes its slant, which you can be certain Musk will point out if he deigns to comment on it at all.
From Salon ● May 20, 2022
Though Quin Veturius is seventy-seven years old, women blush when he looks them in the eye, and men wince when he deigns to shake their hands.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
That applied to observers who deigned to take photographs of the case's famous players in the courthouse and lawyers who pushed their questions into territory the judge had previously made clear were off-limits.
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
Times were unimportant, however, as the racers who deigned to take to the Stelvio course finetuned their lines down the course in the kind of flat light that is also forecast for Saturday's medal race.
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have all issued rebukes to lower courts that deigned to question their reasoning.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2025
Chris Pine’s rep deigned to respond to the ‘ridiculous story’ that Harry Styles spit at Pine during ‘Don’t Worry Darling’s’ Venice debut.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2022
Neither deigned to look up from their game until Haldon drew up a chair between them and said, “My dwarf plays better cyvasse than both of you combined.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
The love of ambiguity can feel somewhat coy—Ms. Tokarczuk gestures toward the existence of occult mysteries without deigning to fully portray them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
We need not, in the end, thank Hollywood, or American culture, for deigning to reflect some minuscule part of ourselves on TV, nor need we ask for more, or for better.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2020
He was lucky I was even deigning to speak to him, particularly with people watching.
From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2019
Later, his photography business would employ as many as 50 people, Nadar only deigning to go behind the camera for celebrities and friends.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 19, 2017
She was the queen of the Hollows, and here she was deigning to waste a few of her precious words on me, a kid from Valedale?
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
