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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
dignify
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a dignified exit (=when someone leaves in a way that makes people respect them)
▪ Marco did his best to make a dignified exit, but with the amount he’d drunk, it proved difficult.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ A huge portrait of the couple dignified the living room wall.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Slice was perched along the sides of a cleft in the mountains that couldn't be dignified by the name of valley.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
dignify

dignify \dig"ni*fy\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dignified; p. pr. & vb. n. Dignifying.] [OF. dignifier, fr. LL. dignificare; L. dignus worthy + ficare (in comp.), facere to make. See Deign, and Fact.] To invest with dignity or honor; to make illustrious; to give distinction to; to exalt in rank; to honor.

Your worth will dignify our feast.
--B. Jonson.

Syn: To exalt; elevate; prefer; advance; honor; illustrate; adorn; ennoble.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
dignify

mid-15c., from Middle French dignifier, from Medieval Latin dignificare "make worthy," from Latin dignus (see dignity) + -ficare, from facere "to make, do" (see factitious). Related: Dignification; dignified; dignifying.

Wiktionary
dignify

vb. 1 to invest with dignity or honour 2 to give distinction to 3 to exalt in rank 4 to honor.

WordNet
dignify
  1. v. confer dignity or honor upon; "He was dignified with a title" [syn: ennoble]

  2. raise the status of; "I shall not dignify this insensitive remark with an answer"

  3. [also: dignified]

Usage examples of "dignify".

He possessed the elegant accomplishments of a poet and orator, which dignify as well as adorn the humblest and the most exalted station.

So I walked stiff and dignified amain, that dog in step with me the while.

Alastair Bing, with the dignified coldness of an irritated man who thinks that a vast fuss is being made over nothing.

The birdman stood very tall now, his dark eyes calm, his entire bearing dignified and proud, his dark red wings held out slightly away from his body.

It was a most fortunate move, for next second the dignified crowd of Kukuanas uttered a simultaneous yell of horror, and bolted back some yards.

The Bucentaur did not return directly to the quay, to disburden itself of its grave and dignified load.

She had, naturally, a grand, dignified air, which was in strange contrast to the grotesque buffoonery of her poethusband.

She then left me, and I could not help thinking her a very interesting woman, as her speech was as dignified as her appearance.

I was sorry to have deprived the people of Barcelona of the only amusement they had in the evening, and resolved to stay indoors, thinking that would be the most dignified course I could adopt.

Tibey could easily call the infamous, albeit intelligent and dignified, assassin, El Cociloco, but it was necessary in the crime of cuckoldry to do your own revenging.

He held himself very straight as he entered the house, and the boyish grin with which he customarily greeted the butler had given place to a dignified nod.

Villiers made a calm and effective reply, in which he especially directed his skill as a debater to the exposure of the fallacies of Sir Robert Peel, whose ignorance or partizanship he handled with a calm and dignified severity.

That was not a question so the dracoman did not dignify it with a reply.

It used to upset my gravity entirely to see a crowd of grave and dignified Captains, Majors and Colonels going through this nonsensical drollery with all the abandon of professional burnt-cork artists.

Through the open door Mathieu had caught sight of Mademoiselle Herminie, the daughter of the house, ensconced in one of the red velvet armchairs near the window, and dreamily perusing a novel there, while her mother, standing up, extolled her goods in her most dignified way to the old gentleman, who gravely contemplated the procession of nurses and seemed unable to make up his mind.