indignity
Americannoun
-
indignities
plural
-
an injury to a person's dignity; slighting or contemptuous treatment; humiliating affront, insult, or injury.
- Synonyms:
- outrage
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Obsolete. disgrace or disgraceful action.
noun
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injury to one's self-esteem or dignity; humiliation
-
obsolete disgrace or disgraceful character or conduct
Synonym Usage
See insult.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of indignity
First recorded in 1575–85; from Latin indignitās “unworthiness,” equivalent to indign(us) “undeserving, unworthy”( see indign) + -itās -ity
Explanation
An indignity is something embarrassing. An indignity is usually something that happens to us rather than something we do ourselves. As you might guess from that negative prefix in-, an indignity is a word that takes dignity (or self-esteem) away. If you find a fly in your soup, that's an indignity — not to mention protein. If you're making a speech and you realize your fly is open, that's a major indignity. Many people find waiting in line a long time to be an indignity. When you say "This is an indignity!" you're really saying, "I'm better than this, and I shouldn't have to deal with it." Needless to say, life is full of indignities.
Vocabulary lists containing indignity
Things Fall Apart
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"My Wonder Horse," Vocabulary from the short story
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 14–18
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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:
The final indignity: belly fat that rendered my favorite jeans unzippable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
The indignity and grime of poverty, the constant close proximity, the competitive scramble for decreasing amounts of writing time made them hunker defensively.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Dame Esther added that "everything I didn't want to happen I'm having to go through now", with loved ones either unable to visit her or "see me suffering pain or indignity" when they do.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
It was even more of an indignity because Haley lived in and around Knoxville, Tennessee, for long periods of his life.
From Salon ● May 31, 2026
The fourth indignity was that Marcus already knew the answer but wanted to hear me say it.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
In a film full of contrived indignities, this is the most maddening, suggesting that anyone watching the film is no more clever than the “Fossil Fools” audience members.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
The indignities apparently did not stop at the club.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
For the most part, the retrofuturistic vibes of the northern Virginia airport provide some aesthetic relief from the contemporary indignities of air travel.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
As the number of multimillionaires has grown, so too has the suite of services for high-net-worth individuals looking to avoid the indignities of commercial travel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
This is another one of the indignities of prison.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
