Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Dignity
Dig′ni-ty
,Noun.
pl.
Dignities
(#)
. 1.
The state of being worthy or honorable; elevation of mind or character; true worth; excellence.
2.
Elevation; grandeur.
The
dignity
of this act was worth the audience of kings. Shakespeare
3.
Elevated rank; honorable station; high office, political or ecclesiastical; degree of excellence; preferment; exaltation.
Macaulay.
And the king said, What honor and
dignity
hath been done to Mordecai for this? Esth. vi. 3.
Reuben, thou art my firstborn, . . . the excellency of
dignity
, and the excellency of power. Gen. xlix. 3.
4.
Quality suited to inspire respect or reverence; loftiness and grace; impressiveness; stateliness; – said of mien, manner, style, etc.
A letter written with singular energy and
dignity
of thought and language. Macaulay.
5.
One holding high rank; a dignitary.
These filthy dreamers . . . speak evil of
dignities
. Jude. 8.
6.
Fundamental principle; axiom; maxim.
[Obs.]
Syn. – See
Decorum
. To stand upon one’s dignity
, to have or to affect a high notion of one's own rank, privilege, or character.
They did not
stand upon their dignity
, nor give their minds to being or to seeming as elegant and as fine as anybody else. R. G. White.
Webster 1828 Edition
Dignity
DIGNITY
,Noun.
1.
True honor; nobleness or elevation of mind, consisting in a high sense of propriety, truth and justice, with an abhorrence of mean and sinful actions; opposed to meanness. In this sense, we speak of the dignity of mind, and dignity of sentiments. This dignity is based on moral rectitude; all vice is incompatible with true dignity of mind. The man who deliberately injures another, whether male or female, has no true dignity of soul.2.
Elevation; honorable place or rank of elevation; degree of excellence, either in estimation, or in the order of nature. Man is superior in dignity to brutes.3.
Elevation of aspect; grandeur of mein; as a man of native dignity.4.
Elevation of deportment; as dignity of manners or behavior.5.
An elevated office, civil or ecclesiastical, giving a high rank in society; advancement; preferment, or the rank attached to it. We say, a man enjoys his dignity with moderation, or without haughtiness. Among ecclesiastics, dignity is office or preferment joined with power or jurisdiction.6.
The rank or title of a nobleman.7.
In oratory, one of the three parts of elocution, consisting in the right use of tropes and figures.8.
In astrology, an advantage which a planet has on account of its being in some particular place of the zodiac, or in a particular station in respect to other planets.9.
A general maxim, or principle. [Not used.]