Jenny Daggers links feminist critiques and interreligious dialogue, arguing that our failure to treat people of other traditions with dignity matches in deed and rhetoric our inability to see that women are full and equal members of the community.—Francis X. Clooney, Commonweal, 11 Sept. 2009When King spoke about the racist past, he gloried in black people beating the odds to win equal rights by arming "ourselves with dignity and self-respect."—Juan Williams, Wall Street Journal, 4 Apr. 2008The period just after the Revolutionary War (1780-1820) was a time to project hard-won dignity, not show off. Federal interiors featured muted wall colors … and delicately carved or inlaid decoration.—Kelly Beamon, This Old House, March 2008Roger was beaming. His creased fat face literally shone with pleasure, which, for the sake of dignity, he struggled to contain.—Alice Adams, The Story and Its Writer, 1987Every speaker tries to create a love affair with his or her audience. But when the phenomenon called Maya Angelou takes the lectern at Pensacola (Florida) Junior College, she does not so much speak to the audience as "embrace" it. She sings, reads verse, thunders oratorically, even dances. Standing a majestic six feet tall and gifted with a resonant voice and … dignity, she is a poet, preacher, performer extraordinaire.—Cheryl McCall, People, 8 Mar. 1982
She showed dignity in defeat.
The ceremony was conducted with great dignity.
Theirs is a country that cherishes freedom and human dignity.
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In Darnold's case, arriving at the Super Bowl with his fifth team in eight years tells us that quarterbacks can fail, can fall and get back up and reclaim their dignity and their standing among their peers.—Arkansas Online, 28 Jan. 2026 To solve the problems associated with division and incivility, societal leaders must devise strategies that bring people together and promote the universality of human dignity.—Blake D. Morant, Forbes.com, 28 Jan. 2026 The metaphor isn’t lost on the elder Hanna, who recognizes what’s been lost with a dignity and sweetness.—Holly Gleason, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2026 More such fastidiousness will be needed to arrest the domino effect of delegitimization and to renew the small guarantees of truth and dignity in public life customarily provided by legacy institutions.—Sean Williams, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for dignity
Word History
Etymology
Middle English dignete, from Anglo-French digneté, from Latin dignitat-, dignitas, from dignus