What does "dignity" mean?
Dignity: Elevation; grandeur. The dignity of this act was worth the audience of kings. Shak.
Additional senses
- 2.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.
- 4.4. Quality suited to inspire respect or reverence; loftiness and grace; impressiveness; stateliness; -- said of A letter written with singular energy and dignity of thought Macaulay.
- 5.One holding high rank; a dignitary. These filthy dreamers . . . speak evil of dignities. Jude.
- 6.6. Fundamental principle; axiom; maxim. [Obs.] Sciences concluding from dignities, and principles known by themselves. Sir T. Browne. 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.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00