'Demean' definitions:

Definition of 'demean'

(from WordNet)
verb
Reduce in worth or character, usually verbally; "She tends to put down younger women colleagues"; "His critics took him down after the lecture" [syn: take down, degrade, disgrace, demean, put down]

Definition of 'Demean'

From: GCIDE
  • Demean \De*mean"\, n. [OF. demene. See Demean, v. t.]
  • 1. Management; treatment. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • Vile demean and usage bad. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • With grave demean and solemn vanity. --West. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Demean'

From: GCIDE
  • Demean \De*mean"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Demeaned; p. pr. & vb. n. Demeaning.] [OF. demener to conduct, guide, manage, F. se d['e]mener to struggle; pref. d['e]- (L. de) + mener to lead, drive, carry on, conduct, fr. L. minare to drive animals by threatening cries, fr. minari to threaten. See Menace.]
  • 1. To manage; to conduct; to treat. [1913 Webster]
  • [Our] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To conduct; to behave; to comport; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. [1913 Webster]
  • They have demeaned themselves Like men born to renown by life or death. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • They answered . . . that they should demean themselves according to their instructions. --Clarendon. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To debase; to lower; to degrade; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. [1913 Webster]
  • Her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter. --Thackeray. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: This sense is probably due to a false etymology which regarded the word as connected with the adjective mean. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Demean'

From: GCIDE
  • Demean \De*mean"\, n. [See Demesne.]
  • 1. Demesne. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • 2. pl. Resources; means. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • You know How narrow our demeans are. --Massinger. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'demean'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Demean'