deign

American  

[dayn] / deɪn /

verb (used without object)

• deigns,
  present (3rd person singular)
• deigned,
  past participle,  past
• deigning
  present participle

1. to think it appropriate to or in accordance with one's dignity; condescend.

   He would not deign to discuss the matter with us.

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verb (used with object)

• deigns,
  present (3rd person singular)
• deigned,
  past participle,  past
• deigning
  present participle

1. to condescend to give or grant.

   He deigned no reply.

2. Obsolete. to condescend to accept.

deign British  

/ deɪn /

verb

1. (intr) to think it fit or worthy of oneself (to do something); condescend

   he will not deign to speak to us

2. archaic (tr) to vouchsafe

   he deigned no reply

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• deigning
  present
• deigned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• deign
  simple
• deigns
  simple
• have deigned
  perfect
• has deigned
  perfect
• am deigning
  progressive
• are deigning
  progressive
• is deigning
  progressive
• have been deigning
  perfect progressive
• has been deigning
  perfect progressive

Past

• deigned
  simple
• had deigned
  perfect
• was deigning
  progressive
• were deigning
  progressive
• had been deigning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will deign
  simple
• will have deigned
  perfect
• will be deigning
  progressive
• will have been deigning
  perfect progressive

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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

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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!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

deign deigns deigned deigning

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

Still, when she does deign to speak, there’s a dynamite scene where she dresses down Julian critically and psychologically.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026

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

And when she does deign to talk policy, she phones it in.

From Slate ● Feb. 28, 2023

Nevertheless, the boy was impressed at being in the presence of a champion, and awed that Rossolimo would deign to talk to him, mumbler though he was.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Which she already has, along with all the extracurriculars required to prove she will be an asset to whichever university deigns to accept our tens of thousands of dollars in tuition, housing and fees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2024

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

When Peter deigns to show up to the office, it’s to flagrantly show his refusal to work by playing Tetris or gutting a fish at his desk.

From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2024

Tristan, when he finally deigns to see her, is already in the shadow of night.

From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 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

According to the devoted, woe to those who deigned to enjoy any aspects of "Star Trek: Discovery" and previous seasons of "Star Trek: Picard."

From Salon ● Mar. 2, 2023

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

Perhaps the universe should have deigned to provide such warnings, but scythes were no more supernatural than tax collectors in the grand scheme of things.

From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman

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

Before deigning to unveil his characters’ undeveloped souls, Bergman shows us the variety of masks they have been taught to adopt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2021

He was lucky I was even deigning to speak to him, particularly with people watching.

From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2019

The “communications” office specializes in stonewalling, often not even deigning to issue a “no comment.”

From Washington Post ● Jan. 2, 2019

He fussed over my condescension in deigning to learn anything about his country.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

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