undignified
adjective
un·dig·ni·fied
ˌən-ˈdig-nə-ˌfīd 
: not dignified : lacking in dignity or injurious to dignity
undignified behavior
She did not exactly fall, but she staggered and reeled across the room in a very undignified fashion …—
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery… she could not get over the idea that to earn her living was somewhat undignified …—Somerset Maugham
Somerset MaughamExamples of undignified in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
No one would dare fondle some of Dublin’s other high-profile statues like those depicting James Joyce, Oscar Wilde or Wolfe Tone — all men, the writer added, wondering why Molly Malone’s statue must be subjected to undignified and disrespectful attention.
—Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2024
The hearing is the latest stage in a convoluted journey that has left Assange incarcerated at Belmarsh, a high-security prison in the south-east of the British capital, years after an undignified eviction from London’s Ecuadorian embassy.
—Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN, 20 Feb. 2024
Gay was released in an undignified way after rotting on the vine and being subject to vile racial attacks.
—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 10 Jan. 2024
That same year in Sudan, an inspiring protest movement—with women in prominent roles—succeeded in driving the autocrat Omar al-Bashir into an undignified retirement in prison.
—Comfort Ero, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2023
We have been told, directly and indirectly, that making the choice to act professionally forfeited our rights to a life with dignity, that even wanting to act indicated something undignified in our characters.
—Genevieve Angelson, Town & Country, 31 Aug. 2023
Just five separate, very different apartments: a pair of flavorless one-bedrooms on the 31st and 33rd floors, a fancier two-bedroom with walk-in closets and views of St. Pat’s on the 31st floor, and a studio with wood paneling and an undignified Murphy bed on the 23rd floor.
—Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 8 Sep. 2023
Yet some of us (the squares) find this distasteful—an undignified kind of life.
—Will Stephenson, Harper's Magazine, 16 Aug. 2023
That was enough foreshadowing for Reddington’s serene if slightly undignified demise at the horns of a bull in Spain, accepting his fate just as his longtime FBI contact Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) was bearing down on him.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 14 July 2023
Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2024
The hearing is the latest stage in a convoluted journey that has left Assange incarcerated at Belmarsh, a high-security prison in the south-east of the British capital, years after an undignified eviction from London’s Ecuadorian embassy.
—Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN, 20 Feb. 2024
Gay was released in an undignified way after rotting on the vine and being subject to vile racial attacks.
—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 10 Jan. 2024
That same year in Sudan, an inspiring protest movement—with women in prominent roles—succeeded in driving the autocrat Omar al-Bashir into an undignified retirement in prison.
—Comfort Ero, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2023
We have been told, directly and indirectly, that making the choice to act professionally forfeited our rights to a life with dignity, that even wanting to act indicated something undignified in our characters.
—Genevieve Angelson, Town & Country, 31 Aug. 2023
Just five separate, very different apartments: a pair of flavorless one-bedrooms on the 31st and 33rd floors, a fancier two-bedroom with walk-in closets and views of St. Pat’s on the 31st floor, and a studio with wood paneling and an undignified Murphy bed on the 23rd floor.
—Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 8 Sep. 2023
Yet some of us (the squares) find this distasteful—an undignified kind of life.
—Will Stephenson, Harper's Magazine, 16 Aug. 2023
That was enough foreshadowing for Reddington’s serene if slightly undignified demise at the horns of a bull in Spain, accepting his fate just as his longtime FBI contact Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) was bearing down on him.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 14 July 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'undignified.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Undignified.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/undignified. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
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