indignity Hear it!

indignity Definition

in·dig·nity (in dignə tē)

noun pl. -·ties

  1. something that humiliates, insults, or injures the dignity or self-respect; affront
  2. Obsolete
    1. unworthiness or disgrace
    2. indignation

Etymology: L indignitas, unworthiness, vileness: see in- & dignity

indignity Synonyms

indignity

n.

indignity Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • ward: Too many elderly people still suffer the indignity of mixed sex wards.
  • poverty: Those who failed to win a living income, were trapped into lives with all the deep indignities of dirt poverty.
  • testing: More and more people suffer the indignity of means testing.
  • unemployment: Too often people were told to make a choice between the indignity of unemployment, or the humiliation of poverty pay.
  • life: The war in Spain gave them the perfect opportunity to fight back against fascism and to escape the indignities of exile life.
  • relegation: United then sank into decline and suffered the indignity of relegation in 1974.

Converse of object

  • suffer: I mean, everyone's suffered the indignity at some point in their life.
  • inflict: But it occurred to me to stop and think too, about the indignity inflicted on the official.
  • endure: Because Irish women cannot find a solution to their crisis pregnancies in their home country they endure the indignity and expense of traveling abroad.
  • spare: But at least I'll be spared the indignity of having to wake up at 6.30am on a Sunday morning.
  • face: If we are already disarmed, we still face the indignity of being searched by police officers who are increasingly useless and corrupt.
  • have: She said: Now we have the indignity of a proof of age being required for OAPs and the prospect of more charges.

Adjective modifier

  • final: The final indignity came on Chang's first match point in the next game.
  • further: But unlike the poor of any previous era, the new poor face further indignities and humiliation.
  • such: Faced with such indignities the Duran we knew was liable to take drastic retribution.
  • great: The body of King Richard III was treated with great indignity.
  • personal: Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery, and personal indignity.
  • other: We will suffer value engineering, substitutions, cost cutting, and other practical indignities of our work.
indignity Quotes

I am a Catholic. As far as possible I go to Mass every day. Asfaraspossible Ikneeldownandtell these beadsevery day. If you reject me on account of my religion, I shall thank God that he has spared me the indignity of being your representative.

—Belloc, (Joseph) Hilaire Pierre

I therefore fearlessly challenge the verdict which this house†is to give on the question now brought before it†whether, as the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say Civis Romanus sum; so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him against injustice and wrong.

—Palmerston, HenryJohnTemple, 3rd Viscount

The ultimate indignity is to be given a bedpan by a stranger who calls you by your first name.

—Kuhn, Maggie