dignify
Other forms: dignified; dignifies; dignifying
To dignify is to grant nobility or respect to something. Dignifying raises the status of things.
Dignity is a quality of honor and respect, so to dignify is to give greater respect and honor to something or someone. The presence of the President would dignify a military ceremony. Medals are given to dignify soldiers. Treating people with respect and taking them seriously dignifies them. Often, this word is used in a negative sense, as in "I wouldn't dignify him with an answer!" That means the speaker doesn't feel the person asking the question deserves respect.
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confer dignity or honor upon
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raise the status of
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Vocabulary lists containing dignify
Shipwrecked and blinded from a torpedo attack, Phillip must conquer his prejudices when his only companion is an elderly West Indian man named Timothy.
On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the majority opinion in the Dred Scott Case. Scott, a slave, had been brought from a slave territory to a free territory and demanded his freedom. The Court ruled that as an enslaved person, Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in the courts. The decision further polarized the North and the South and ended any chance of compromise. This pro-slavery Supreme Court decision illuminates how the issue of slavery brought the nation to the brink of the Civil War. Read the full text here.
A young baseball player tries to hide his complicated family situation in order to make it to the Little League World Series.