demean Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb reduce in worth or character, usually verbally
    take down; disgrace; degrade; put down.
    • She tends to put down younger women colleagues
    • His critics took him down after the lecture

WordNet

De*mean" transitive verb
Etymology
OF. demener to conduct, guide, manage, F. se démener to struggle pref. dé- (L. de) + mener to lead, drive, carry on, conduct, fr. L. minare to drive animals by threatening cries, fr. minari to threaten. See Menace.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Demeaned ; present participle & verbal noun Demeaning
Definitions
  1. To manage; to conduct; to treat.
    [Our] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. Milton.
  2. To conduct; to behave; to comport; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun.
    They have demeaned themselves Like men born to renown by life or death. Shak.
    They answered . . . that they should demean themselves according to their instructions. Clarendon.
  3. To debase; to lower; to degrade; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun.
    Her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter. Thackeray.
    ✍ This sense is probably due to a false etymology which regarded the word as connected with the adjective mean.
De*mean" noun
Etymology
OF. demene. See Demean, v. t.
Definitions
  1. Management; treatment. Obs.
    Vile demean and usage bad. Spenser.
  2. Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor. Obs.
    With grave demean and solemn vanity. West.
De*mean" noun
Etymology
See Demesne.
Definitions
  1. Demesne. Obs.
  2. pl. Resources; means. Obs.
    You know How narrow our demeans are. Massinger.

Webster 1913