demean

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈmiːn/
• Rhymes: -iːn

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Etymology 1

(1595) From de- +‎ mean (“lowly, base, common”), from Middle English mene, aphetic variation of imene (“mean, base, common”), from Old English ġemǣne (“mean, common”). Compare English bemean.

Verb

demean (third-person singular simple present demeans, present participle demeaning, simple past and past participle demeaned)

1. To debase; to lower; to degrade.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 6, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     It was, of course, Mrs. Sedley's opinion that her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter.

2. To humble, humble oneself; to humiliate.
3. To mortify.

Synonyms

• debase
• lower
• degrade

Derived terms

• demeaner
• misdemean

 

Translations

to debase

• Bulgarian: унижавам (bg) (unižavam)
• Finnish: alentaa (fi), halventaa (fi)
• German: herabwürdigen (de), entwürdigen (de), erniedrigen (de), herabsetzen (de)
• Japanese: 貶める (ja) (otoshimeru)
• Maori: whakatūtūā, whakatautauhea, whakapāpaku

Etymology 2

From Middle English demenen, demeinen, from Anglo-Norman demener, from Old French demener, from de- + mener (“to conduct, lead”), from Latin mināre, from minārī (“to threaten”).

Verb

demean (third-person singular simple present demeans, present participle demeaning, simple past and past participle demeaned)

1. (obsolete) To manage; to conduct; to treat.
   • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:

     But now, as our obdurate clergy have with violence demeaned the matter.

2. (now rare) To conduct; to behave; to comport; followed by the reflexive pronoun.
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     they have demean'd themselves
     Like men born to renown by life or death.

   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

     They answered […] that they should demean themselves according to their instructions.

Translations

to debase; to lower; to degrade

• Dutch: neerhalen (nl), vernederen (nl)
• Finnish: alentaa (fi), halventaa (fi), vähätellä (fi)
• German: erniedrigen (de), herabwürdigen (de), herabsetzen (de)
• Italian: svilire (it)
• Spanish: degradar (es), menospreciar (es), humillar (es)

to humble, humble oneself; to humiliate

• Bulgarian: унижавам (bg) (unižavam)
• Finnish: nöyrtyä (fi)
• German: kleinmachen, demütigen (de), erniedrigen (de)

to mortify

• Finnish: häpäistä (fi)
• German: beschämen (de)

to manage; to conduct; to treat

• Dutch: gedragen (nl), behandelen (nl)
• Finnish: käyttäytyä (fi)
• German: behandeln (de), führen (de)
• Spanish: conducir (es), gestionar (es)

to conduct; to behave; to comport

• Bulgarian: държа се (dǎrža se)
• Finnish: käyttäytyä (fi)
• German: benehmen (de), verhalten (de), führen (de), aufführen (de)

Noun

demean (usually uncountable, plural demeans)

1. (obsolete) Management; treatment.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18:

     Pursu'd him streight, in mynd to bene ywroken / Of all the vile demeane, and vsage bad

2. (obsolete) Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     ‘When thou hast all this doen, then bring me newes / Of his demeane […].’

   • 1739, Gilbert West, A canto of the Fairy Queen (later called On the Abuse of Travelling)

     with grave demean and solemn vanity

Translations

management; treatment

• Dutch: beheer (nl), behandeling (nl)
• Finnish: kohtelu (fi)

behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor

• Bulgarian: държание (bg) n (dǎržanie)
• Dutch: gedrag (nl), houding (nl)
• Finnish: käytös (fi)
• Ukrainian: поведінка (povedinka)

Related terms

• demeanor

Etymology 3

Variant of demesne.

Noun

demean (plural demeans)

1. demesne.
2. resources; means.

Translations

resources — see resources

Etymology 4

de- +‎ mean

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌdiːˈmiːn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

demean (third-person singular simple present demeans, present participle demeaning, simple past and past participle demeaned)

1. (statistics, transitive) To subtract the mean from (a value, or every observation in a data set).
   • 2013, Hans-Jürgen Andreß, Katrin Golsch, Alexander W. Schmidt, Applied Panel Data Analysis for Economic and Social Surveys‎^[1], page 177:

     Concerning FE estimation, it makes no difference whether you demean the data with unit-specific means computed on (balanced) T observations per unit, or with unit-specific means computed on (unbalanced) T_i observations per unit.

Anagrams

• Medean, Nadeem, amende, amened, dename, meaned