Deign

Question

Hi.What does deign mean? my dictionary fails to provide a clear definition for me. would you please give me some example, so I can understand it better.It is considered synonymous with condescend and patronize  but I think they are different, tell me if I am right.Thanks for your time and help

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

20 examples from COCA:

1 2010 MAG HarpersBazaar A B C . It's gained so much momentum that designers who you might not think would deign to sell in a big-box store in Peoria are doing just that. Next up

2 2009 SPOK NPR_TalkNation A B C few - well, as one review said, he stoops - he doesn't deign to stoop to any joke, including naming one town Lint-upon-Tweed. Mr-MOORE: Well,

3 2009 FIC Bk:LastComesLove A B C grandfather, who had never been one to indulge in unnecessary chitchat, did not deign to deliver a health report. Neither did he greet his grandson or express any

4 2009 FIC Bk:DontBargainWith A B C her. # You're too impassioned, too curious about things no lady should deign to notice. You can't help it -- it's in your blood.

5 2009 FIC LiteraryRev A B C out with my mother some years before -- over what, my mother wouldn't deign to say -- and her appearance at the funeral stirred a pain I'd been

6 2009 FIC Bk:ShallowCopy A B C essentially a lab rat... No. He could not-would not-forget. He would not deign to live as someone's pet-especially not the pet of a nave child arrogant enough

7 2009 MAG SportsIll A B C night, opting to go with John 3:16. # Smiling, he did not deign to address that possibility. Pressing the stickers to the base of the plaque he

8 2009 NEWS WashPost A B C glitterati and so much pageantry, it was sure swell of the privileged elite to deign to play the peasants on their home pitch Sunday. # It's like McTavish

9 2009 NEWS Denver A B C also playing in Buffalo, one of the few places where even ESPN doesn't deign to tread. # The Oakland Raiders Scent # Supply your own punchline here.

10 2008 FIC Bk:RitesSpringBreak A B C than Rose & Grave, and though generally well respected (hey, anything we deign to consider a " rival " is okay by us), it boasted fewer

11 2008 FIC Bk:VampyresHollywood A B C , and humble isn't one of them. Naturally, he didn't even deign to look in my direction. # I watched him walk offstage holding the Oscar

12 2008 FIC Bk:Abbeville A B C at the creek. There were no trout in it, and Grampa would not deign to fish with anything but a well-tied fly, so for blood sport he had

13 2008 MAG Newsweek A B C national oil companies, and are demanding an increasing slice of the pie when they deign to share it at all. It's no wonder investors seem to be losing

14 2008 MAG MotherJones A B C comes from a kind of noblesse oblige approach. It's about what we will deign to do, " says John DeCicco, a senior fellow with the Environmental Defense

15 2008 ACAD TheologStud A B C send official observers. He ended the paragraph, " And may the divine Spirit deign to answer in a most comforting manner the prayer that rises daily to Him from

16 2007 FIC Analog A B C myself back in Metro when the detective chief superintendent would descend from Valhalla and portentously deign to address " you chaps, " concerning some high profile case that was drawing

17 2007 FIC Commentary A B C 's. Construction would be completed on the Second Avenue tunnel before Jerome Wahl would deign to be lumped with those infants. # " Hello, Daniel. " Come

18 2006 FIC FantasySciFi A B C and two years passed before another suitor visited the castle. The princess did not deign even to receive him. Broken-hearted, he climbed the highest tower of the royal

19 2006 FIC BkJuv:HerScandalous A B C , her shop wasn't a high-priced, self-important salon that decided who they'd deign to serve and who wasn't good enough to darken their door. But neither

20 2006 MAG Bicycling A B C unkind to me and I am not ruler of all that I behold I will deign to come and listen to your pathetic complaint. " At this moment I know

Hrsanei · Answer

Thanks Mister Micawber for the examples.

If you want to give a definition of deign in your own words, what would it be?

Thanks

Mister Micawber · Answer

There are [url=http://www.onelook.com/?w=deign&ls=a] 29 DEFINITIONS[/url] including several reputable dictionaries on-line. I wouldn't presume.

Deign

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