deem

American  

[deem] / dim /

verb (used without object)

• deems,
  present (3rd person singular)
• deemed,
  past participle,  past
• deeming
  present participle

1. to form or have an opinion; judge; think.

   He did not deem lightly of the issue.

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verb (used with object)

• deems,
  present (3rd person singular)
• deemed,
  past participle,  past
• deeming
  present participle

1. to hold as an opinion; think; regard as.

   He deemed it wise to refuse the offer.

   Synonyms:

   believe, hold, consider

deem British  

/ diːm /

verb

1. (tr) to judge or consider

   I do not deem him worthy of this honour

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• deeming
  present
• deemed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• deem
  simple
• deems
  simple
• have deemed
  perfect
• has deemed
  perfect
• am deeming
  progressive
• are deeming
  progressive
• is deeming
  progressive
• have been deeming
  perfect progressive
• has been deeming
  perfect progressive

Past

• deemed
  simple
• had deemed
  perfect
• was deeming
  progressive
• were deeming
  progressive
• had been deeming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will deem
  simple
• will have deemed
  perfect
• will be deeming
  progressive
• will have been deeming
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of deem

First recorded before 900; Middle English demen, Old English dēman; cognate with Gothic dōmjan, Old High German tuomen; see doom

Explanation

To deem is a verb that means to view as or judge. Your parents or boss may deem something necessary that you don't, like coming home by midnight or working late. Deem comes from the Old English word, deman — meaning "act as a judge." If you deem something, you essentially become the judge of whether it has a characteristic. For example, if you deem your little sister's jokes to be too ridiculous to listen to, you will probably just walk away.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

deem deems deemed deeming

The company in July said it would start guaranteeing the quality of its Whoppers, committing to remake orders on the spot if customers deem them unsatisfactory, and providing a future Whopper for free.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Its current travel advice warns that it is illegal in Saudi Arabia to say anything publicly that the authorities "deem disruptive to public order".

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

“I left less confident that Chair Warsh would deem that appropriate,” said Mike Lorizio, head of U.S. rates and mortgage trading at Manulife Investment Management.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

Those who have yet to get their hands on the cakes, or deem them too pricey, have resorted to making them at home.

From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2026

‘Are there no leeches among you? She is hurt, to the death maybe, but I deem that she yet lives.’

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Cloud is another business Lapping deems ripe for disintermediation by China.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

He added the agreement allows Israel freedom of action to neutralize what it deems as immediate or even emerging threats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026

"He's running onto it, straight towards goal. It's 100% an obvious goalscoring opportunity. If the referee deems it a foul, he has to send him off."

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026

The CMA deems Google’s search service to have strategic market status, which allows the regulator to introduce targeted requirements on how it operates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

He deems young people who are raised on digital devices “Generation D.”

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

The fifth player, Alex Formenton, was also deemed to have broken conduct rules, but is now being reinstated.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

Many of these delinquencies fall into the bucket of “severely derogatory” loans, meaning lenders have generally deemed them uncollectable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

At the end of April, the group said it had reinstated a regional parliament, which had been deemed illegitimate.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

The threat was deemed to be a swatting call, in which a person reports a fake threat to illicit panic and a large emergency response, she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

Once they had all been deemed smart enough, they trooped out into the sunny backyard to await the visitors.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

The commission typically closely guards such documents, deeming them confidential and only for the eyes of its commissioners.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

In 2023, judges halted the trial, deeming the wheelchair-bound Kabuga "unfit to participate meaningfully" in proceedings, but he was ordered to remain detained awaiting provisional release.

From Barron's ● May 16, 2026

The three judges also found that the original judge had erred by not deeming Tickle's removal from the app based on Grover's "first visual review" of the profile picture as direct discrimination.

From BBC ● May 15, 2026

Raman and Pratt are right in deeming Bass the old guard of a beat-up city — but the old guard didn’t get there without knowing how to win.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026

Mainly because as each of us gets better and wiser in our particular areas of expertise, we have to toss everything and start over, deeming the old material to be childish and unprofessional.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

Related Words

• allow
• assume
• believe
• expect
• feel
• presume
• suppose
• suspect