Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Dignity
Dig′ni-ty
,Noun.
pl.
Dignities
(#)
. 1.
The state of being worthy or honorable; elevation of mind or character; true worth; excellence.
2.
Elevation; grandeur.
The
dignity
of this act was worth the audience of kings. Shakespeare
3.
Elevated rank; honorable station; high office, political or ecclesiastical; degree of excellence; preferment; exaltation.
Macaulay.
And the king said, What honor and
dignity
hath been done to Mordecai for this? Esth. vi. 3.
Reuben, thou art my firstborn, . . . the excellency of
dignity
, and the excellency of power. Gen. xlix. 3.
4.
Quality suited to inspire respect or reverence; loftiness and grace; impressiveness; stateliness; – said of mien, manner, style, etc.
A letter written with singular energy and
dignity
of thought and language. Macaulay.
5.
One holding high rank; a dignitary.
These filthy dreamers . . . speak evil of
dignities
. Jude. 8.
6.
Fundamental principle; axiom; maxim.
[Obs.]
Syn. – See
Decorum
. To stand upon one’s dignity
, to have or to affect a high notion of one's own rank, privilege, or character.
They did not
stand upon their dignity
, nor give their minds to being or to seeming as elegant and as fine as anybody else. R. G. White.
Webster 1828 Edition
Dignity
DIGNITY
,Noun.
1.
True honor; nobleness or elevation of mind, consisting in a high sense of propriety, truth and justice, with an abhorrence of mean and sinful actions; opposed to meanness. In this sense, we speak of the dignity of mind, and dignity of sentiments. This dignity is based on moral rectitude; all vice is incompatible with true dignity of mind. The man who deliberately injures another, whether male or female, has no true dignity of soul.2.
Elevation; honorable place or rank of elevation; degree of excellence, either in estimation, or in the order of nature. Man is superior in dignity to brutes.3.
Elevation of aspect; grandeur of mein; as a man of native dignity.4.
Elevation of deportment; as dignity of manners or behavior.5.
An elevated office, civil or ecclesiastical, giving a high rank in society; advancement; preferment, or the rank attached to it. We say, a man enjoys his dignity with moderation, or without haughtiness. Among ecclesiastics, dignity is office or preferment joined with power or jurisdiction.6.
The rank or title of a nobleman.7.
In oratory, one of the three parts of elocution, consisting in the right use of tropes and figures.8.
In astrology, an advantage which a planet has on account of its being in some particular place of the zodiac, or in a particular station in respect to other planets.9.
A general maxim, or principle. [Not used.]Definition 2024
dignity
dignity
English
Noun
dignity (plural dignities)
- A quality or state worthy of esteem and respect.
- 1752, Henry Fielding, Amelia, I. viii
- He uttered this ... with great majesty, or, as he called it, dignity.
- 1981, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art. 5
- Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being.
- 1752, Henry Fielding, Amelia, I. viii
- Decorum, formality, stateliness.
- 1934, Aldous Huxley, "Puerto Barrios", in Beyond the Mexique Bay:
- Official DIGNITY tends to increase in inverse ratio to the importance of the country in which the office is held.
- 1934, Aldous Huxley, "Puerto Barrios", in Beyond the Mexique Bay:
- High office, rank, or station.
- 1781, Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, F. III. 231:
- He ... distributed the civil and military dignities among his favourites and followers.
- Macaulay
- And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this?
- 1781, Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, F. III. 231:
- One holding high rank; a dignitary.
- Bible, Jude 8.
- These filthy dreamers […] speak evil of dignities.
- Bible, Jude 8.
- (obsolete) Fundamental principle; axiom; maxim.
- Sir Thomas Browne
- Sciences concluding from dignities, and principles known by themselves.
- Sir Thomas Browne
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
Related terms
Translations
quality or state
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formality, stateliness
high office or rank
See also
- dignity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- dignity in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911