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Definition
do something that one considers to be below one's dignity- She wouldn't deign to meet with me.
deign = do something considered beneath one's dignity
- Will your majesty deign to excuse me?Alexandre Dumas -- The Count of Monte Cristo
- She won't deign to join us.
- Against the fence, in a line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson, had Miss Maudie deigned to permit a geranium on her premises.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Maybe, just maybe, it would deign to answer me.James Patterson -- The Angel Experiment
- "I shall deign to speak your language," Boreas said, "as Piper McLean has honored me in mine."Rick Riordan -- The Lost Hero
- They threw seeds from their hand as if they deigned to fling a scornful gift, and the earth was a beggar under their feet.Ayn Rand -- Anthem
- She did not deign to inform me of her plans.J.D. Robb -- Glory in Death
- God grant that we may be guided aright, and that He will deign to watch over my husband and those dear to us both, and who are in such deadly peril.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- Come hither, deign to touch an abject wretch; Draw near and fear not; I myself must bear The load of guilt that none but I can share.Sophocles -- Oedipus the King
- "Your Majesty," said Konn Torin, still without deigning to meet Cinder's eye.Marissa Meyer -- Cinder
- The Emperor had deigned to notice him.Frank Herbert -- Dune
- Then, when she finally does deign to speak to me, it's only to criticize me some more.Meg Cabot -- The Princess Diaries
- Will your Excellency deign to look.Baroness Orczy -- The Scarlet Pimpernel
- The most plausible of these, who has appeared in print, has even deigned to admit that the election of the President is pretty well guarded.Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay -- The Federalist Papers
- "She has not told me that—and Lavinia didn't deign.Henry James -- Washington Square
- I deigned to make him no reply; and, taking up my hat, was going out to bed, when he came between me and the door.Charles Dickens -- David Copperfield
- She does not deign to ask me what it is for.Margaret Atwood -- The Handmaid's Tale
- He eyed Bumble askance, as he entered, but scarcely deigned to nod his head in acknowledgment of his salutation.Charles Dickens -- Oliver Twist
- His steward might deign to occupy it, but never, certainly, the great landed proprietor himself.Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The House of the Seven Gables
deigned = done something that one considers to be below one's dignity
deign = do something considered beneath one's dignity
deign = do something considered beneath one's dignity
deigned = did something they considered to be beneath their dignity