DESERVING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does deserving mean? 

• DESERVING (adjective)
  The adjective DESERVING has 1 sense:

1. (often used ironically) worthy of being treated in a particular way

  Familiarity information: DESERVING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DESERVING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(often used ironically) worthy of being treated in a particular way

Synonyms:

deserving; worth

Context example:

a deserving cause

Similar:

worthy (having worth or merit or value; being honorable or admirable)

Domain usage:

irony (a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs)

Derivation:

deservingness (the quality of being deserving (e.g., deserving assistance))

 Context examples 

She is engaged to be married to a most worthy and deserving man in her own station of life.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He had suspected his agent of some underhand dealing; of meaning to bias him against the deserving; and he had determined to go himself, and thoroughly investigate the merits of the case.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

How could you suppose that my first thought would not fly towards those dear, dear friends whom I love and who are so deserving of my love?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I cannot think of a sign more deserving than you to receive the plethora of goodies Jupiter is about to send you, dear Capricorn.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

His regard for her was quite imaginary; and the possibility of her deserving her mother's reproach prevented his feeling any regret.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

She made him, by her acceptance, as happy even as he is deserving.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Miss Lucy Steele is, I dare say, a very deserving young woman, but in the present case you know, the connection must be impossible.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

She was persuaded to believe the engagement a wrong thing: indiscreet, improper, hardly capable of success, and not deserving it.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Curiosity rover has confirmed that the region on Mars it's exploring, called the "clay-bearing unit," is well deserving of its name.

(Curiosity Mars Rover Finds a Clay Cache, NASA)

Her husband was really deserving of her; independent of his peerage, his wealth, and his attachment, being to a precision the most charming young man in the world.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)