infra dig

English

Etymology

Shortened form of Latin infrā dignitātem (“beneath [one's] dignity”).

Adjective

infra dig

1. (colloquial) Beneath one's dignity.

   Synonym: infra dignitatem

   • [1921 [1919], H. L. Mencken, The American Language, 2nd edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →OCLC, Preface to the Second Edition:

     It would be regarded as infra dig., I am told, for an American professor of English to concern himself too actively with the English spoken by nearly a hundred millions of his countrymen.]

   • 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 128:

     Gradually the hoop fell out of favour. Possibly with the increase in traffic, it was no longer safe to bowl one's hoop over the pavement and it had to be taken into the park. Perhaps it was the coming of the scooter which made it infra dig. to carry a hoop.

See also

• de minimis