Meaning

(ditransitive) To hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account..

Definitions by Sense

1. (ditransitive) To hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.
2. (ambitransitive) To think, judge, or have or hold as an opinion; to decide or believe on consideration; to suppose.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To judge, to pass judgment on; to doom, to sentence.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To adjudge, to decree.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To dispense (justice); to administer (law).
6. (obsolete) An opinion, a judgment, a surmise.

Example Sentences

She deemed his efforts insufficient.

To this sect belong also the Skakounui, or Jumpers. […] They refuse to take an oath, and will not bear arms, deeming it sinful to shed human blood.

It may ſeeme a rude diſpoſition that ſorteth not with the quality of the age; and pollicy deemeth that vertue a vice, that modeſty, ſimplicity, that reſolotenes, diſſolutenes, that conformeth not it ſelfe with a ſupple and deft correſpondence to the preſent time.

[T]herefore had Abel and his works acceptance, when Cain and his had none, becauſe he was righteous, not ſo eſteemed of God while he was not ſo indeed (as T[homas] D[anson] deems) who becauſe he ſo does, deems that God (as himſelf) deems thoſe and theirs to be good and righteous, […]

[I]f a man doe really deem the weather to be cold, or that his body is diſtempered, he putteth on warmer cloathes, or taketh phyſick: although peradventure he is miſtaken in both: for his deeming them to be ſo, maketh him demeane himſelfe in ſuch ſort, as if really they were ſo.

So Chriſtian came up with him again, and ſaid, Sir, you talk as if you knew ſomething more than all the World doth; and if I take not my mark amiſs, I deem I have half a gueſs of you: Is not your name Mr. By-ends of Fair-ſpeech?

[T]hoſe [remedies] that have obtain'd the Name of Antiſcorbutick, Antiſcrophulous, Traumatick, Vulnerary or Healing Medicines, and ſuch as are deem'd Sweeteners of the Blood, and Correctors of Acrimony, […] have all in their turns been held in high Eſteem; […] Some think the Cure of a Phthiſis is to be compaſſed only by Alkalies; others by Acids; abundance of Phyſicians are of Opinion that no Good can be done in thi Diſeaſe without Opiates, which ſome deem very pernicious; […]

And deemest thou as those who pore, / With aged eyes, short way before? / Think'st Beauty vanished from the coast / Of matter, and thy darling lost?

Word Forms

• deems
• deeming
• deemed
• no-table-tags
• glossary
• deem
• deemest
• deemedst
• deemeth
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Synonyms for deem

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When Should You Use Deem?

Use deem when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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