DEMEAN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does demean mean? 

• DEMEAN (verb)
  The verb DEMEAN has 1 sense:

1. reduce in worth or character, usually verbally

  Familiarity information: DEMEAN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEMEAN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they demean    ... he / she / it demeans   
Past simple: demeaned   
Past participle: demeaned   
-ing form: demeaning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reduce in worth or character, usually verbally

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

degrade; demean; disgrace; put down; take down

Context example:

His critics took him down after the lecture

Hypernyms (to "demean" is one way to...):

abase; chagrin; humble; humiliate; mortify (cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "demean"):

reduce (lower in grade or rank or force somebody into an undignified situation)

dehumanise; dehumanize (deprive of human qualities)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

 Context examples 

“There is no man upon earth who would demean himself by breaking a lance with my master.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Susan and an attendant girl, whose inferior appearance informed Fanny, to her great surprise, that she had previously seen the upper servant, brought in everything necessary for the meal; Susan looking, as she put the kettle on the fire and glanced at her sister, as if divided between the agreeable triumph of shewing her activity and usefulness, and the dread of being thought to demean herself by such an office.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The disagreement subsisting between yourself and my late honoured father always gave me much uneasiness, and since I have had the misfortune to lose him, I have frequently wished to heal the breach; but for some time I was kept back by my own doubts, fearing lest it might seem disrespectful to his memory for me to be on good terms with anyone with whom it had always pleased him to be at variance.—'There, Mrs. Bennet.'—My mind, however, is now made up on the subject, for having received ordination at Easter, I have been so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to the valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be my earnest endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards her ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies which are instituted by the Church of England. As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence; and on these grounds I flatter myself that my present overtures are highly commendable, and that the circumstance of my being next in the entail of Longbourn estate will be kindly overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject the offered olive-branch. I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends—but of this hereafter. If you should have no objection to receive me into your house, I propose myself the satisfaction of waiting on you and your family, Monday, November 18th, by four o'clock, and shall probably trespass on your hospitality till the Saturday se'ennight following, which I can do without any inconvenience, as Lady Catherine is far from objecting to my occasional absence on a Sunday, provided that some other clergyman is engaged to do the duty of the day.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“Did she not break into lamentation and woe that a brother should so demean himself?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)