demean

Meanings

Verb

• To debase; to lower; to degrade.
• To humble, humble oneself; to humiliate.
• To mortify.
• To manage; to conduct; to treat.
• To conduct; to behave; to comport; followed by the reflexive pronoun.
• To subtract the mean from (a value, or every observation in a dataset).

Noun

• Management; treatment.
• Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor.
• demesne.
• resources; means.

Related

Similar words

• debase
• lower
• degrade

Origin

• (1595) From de- + mean, from Middle English mene, aphetic variation of imene, from Old English ġemǣne. Compare English bemean.
• From Middle English demenen, from Anglo-Norman demener, from Old French demener, from de- + mener, from Vulgar Latin *mināre ("to drive") and Latin minārī ("to threaten").
• Variant of demesne.
• de- + mean