DIGNITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does dignity mean? 

• DIGNITY (noun)
  The noun DIGNITY has 3 senses:

1. the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect

2. formality in bearing and appearance

3. high office or rank or station

  Familiarity information: DIGNITY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIGNITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being worthy of esteem or respect

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

dignity; self-regard; self-respect; self-worth

Context example:

showed his true dignity when under pressure

Hypernyms ("dignity" is a kind of...):

pride; pridefulness (a feeling of self-respect and personal worth)

Derivation:

dignify (confer dignity or honor upon)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Formality in bearing and appearance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

dignity; gravitas; lordliness

Context example:

he behaved with great dignity

Hypernyms ("dignity" is a kind of...):

bearing; comportment; mien; presence (dignified manner or conduct)

Sense 3

Meaning:

High office or rank or station

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

he respected the dignity of the emissaries

Hypernyms ("dignity" is a kind of...):

position; status (the relative position or standing of things or especially persons in a society)

 Context examples 

She gave me her hand; but with such sweetness and dignity that I could only stoop and kiss it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Exactly at the expiration of the quarter of an hour, they reappeared with no less dignity than they had disappeared.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She left it to himself to recollect, that Mrs Smith was not the only widow in Bath between thirty and forty, with little to live on, and no surname of dignity.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

It was all very silly, he knew; but therefore the more outrage to his dignity, and his anger waxed and waxed.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Jo liked that, and thought the new dignity very becoming, but the boy seemed changing very fast into the man, and regret mingled with her pleasure.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

In the end, the master laughed him out of his dignity.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

All the resolution has gone out of his dear eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told you was in his face has vanished.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Her garb was rustic, and her cheek pale; but there was an air of dignity and beauty, that hardly permitted the sentiment of pity.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“Here they come,” said I; and I returned to my former position, for it seemed beneath my dignity that they should find me watching them.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The dignity of Miss Woodhouse, of Hartfield, was sunk indeed!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)