deem

Etymology

From Middle English dẹ̄men (“to judge; to criticize, condemn; to impose a penalty on, sentence; to direct, order; to believe, think, deem”), from Old English dēman (“to decide, decree, deem, determine, judge; to condemn, doom, sentence; to consider, examine, reckon, think; to prove; to compute, estimate; to declare, tell; to glorify, praise”),^[1] from Proto-Germanic *dōmijaną (“to judge, think”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”). The word is cognate with Danish dømme (“to judge”), Dutch doemen (“to condemn, foredoom”), North Frisian dema (“to judge, recognise”), Norwegian Bokmål dømme (“to judge”), Norwegian Nynorsk døma (“to judge”), Swedish döma (“to judge, sentence, condemn”). It is also related to doom.^[2]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /diːm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dim/
• Rhymes: -iːm

Verb

deem (third-person singular simple present deems, present participle deeming, simple past and past participle deemed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To judge, to pass judgment on; to doom, to sentence.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To adjudge, to decree.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To dispense (justice); to administer (law).
4. (transitive) To hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.

   She deemed his efforts insufficient.

5. (transitive, intransitive) To think, judge, or hold as an opinion; to decide or believe on consideration; to suppose.
   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream wherein is Discovered, the Manner of His Setting out, His Dangerous Journey; and Safe Arrival at the Desired Countrey, London: Printed for Nath. Ponder at the Peacock in the Poultrey near Cornhil, OCLC 228725984; reprinted as The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, 38 Great Ormond Street, London, WC1, 1928, OCLC 5190338, pages 139–140:

     So Chriſtian came up with him again, and ſaid, Sir, you talk as if you knew ſomething more than all the World doth; and if I take not my mark amiſs, I deem I have half a gueſs of you: Is not your name Mr. By-ends of Fair-ſpeech?

   • 1847, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Threnody”, in Poems, London: Chapman, Brothers, 121, Newgate Street, OCLC 3098019, page 195:

     And deemest thou as those who pore, / With aged eyes, short way before? / Think'st Beauty vanished from the coast / Of matter, and thy darling lost?

6. (intransitive) To have or hold as an opinion; to judge; to think.

Noun

deem (plural deems)

1. An opinion, a judgment, a surmise.

References

Anagrams

• Mede, deme, meed

Alternative forms

• deim

Noun

deem m (plural demen, diminutive deemke n)

1. (Brabantian) dumb person

   Maa ziet gij da dan ni, 't ligt veur ave neus, gij sen deem!

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

References

Etymology

From Old High German themu, demu, from Proto-Germanic *þammai.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /deːm/
  • Rhymes: -eːm

Determiner

deem m, n (unstressed dem)

1. dative of deen
2. dative of dat

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈde.ɐ̃j/
• (Portugal, following a non-nasal sound) IPA^(key): [ˈðe.ɐ̃j]

Verb

deem

1. third-person plural present subjunctive of dar
2. third-person plural imperative of dar

Etymology

Scots form of English dame.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dim/

Noun

deem (plural deems)

1. woman, dame
2. maid (especially a kitchen maid)