deed
/diːd/
deed noun: an action or act; something that is done.
Noun
deed (plural deeds)
- An action or act; something that is done.
- One small deed can have one strong effect or more.
- And Joseph said to them, What deed is this which ye have done?1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 44:15
- A brave or noteworthy action; a feat or exploit.
- They should accomplish both a knightly deed,1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4
- whose deeds some nobler poem shall adorn1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number)
- Action or fact, as opposed to rhetoric or deliberation.
- I have fulfilled my promise in word and in deed.
- A legal instrument that is executed under seal or before a witness; sometimes required for certain legal activities, such as the transfer of certain kinds of property.
- The legal title to real estate; ownership.
- I inherited the deed to the house.
- The legal title to real estate; ownership.
Verb
deed (third-person singular simple present deeds, present participle deeding, simple past and past participle deeded)
- To transfer real property by deed.
- He deeded over the mineral rights to some fellas from Denver.
Proper noun capitalized: Deed
Deed
- A surname.
deed meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
deed in Hindi
- action
- कार्य kārya, करनी karnī
deed in Tamil
- action
- செயல் ceyal
deed in Marathi
- deed
- क्रिया kriyā
deed in Urdu
- deed, feat
- کارنامہ kārnāma
- deed, work, attribute
- کام kām
More languagesFewer languages
- deed in Bengali
- দস্তাবেজ dôśtabez
- deed in Telugu
- చర్య carya, ఒప్పందం oppandaṁ
- deed in Malayalam
- പണി paṇi
- deed in Kannada
- ಕೆಲಸ, ಕೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಕೆಲಸ, ಕಾರ್ಯ, ಕೃತಿ
- deed in Gujarati
- કર્મ karma, કાર્ય kārya, કામ kām
- deed in Sanskrit
- कार्य kārya
- deed in Tagalog
- kasulatan
- deed in Arabic
- عَمَل ʕamal, فِعْل fiʕl, وَثِيقَة waṯīqa, مَأْثُرَة maʔṯura
- deed in Malay
- geran
- deed in Persian
- کردار kerdâr, کار kâr, اعمال a'mâl
Examples of deed in a sentence
- Her very boyfriend is the person the criminal has do most of her dirty deeds.
- The estate passes by the third clause in Mr Smith's deed to his son.
- The royal family has always encouraged the arts in word and deed.
Synonyms of deed
Forms of deed
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | deeds |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | deeds |
| present participle | deeding |
| past participle | deeded |
| past | deeded |
Origin of deed
From Middle English dede, from Old English dēd, dǣd (“deed, act”), from Proto-West Germanic *dādi, from Proto-Germanic *dēdiz (“deed”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁tis (“deed, action”). Analyzable through Proto-Germanic as do + -th. Doublet of thesis. The real estate sense derives from the fact that property deeds are traditionally used to demonstrate proof of ownership of a legal title in common law jurisdictions, such as England & Wales and most of the United States. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian died, Dutch daad (“deed, act”), German Low German Daad, German Tat (“deed, action”), Swedish, Norwegian and Danish dåd (“act, action”). The Proto-Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek θέσις (thésis, “setting, arrangement”).
Words formed from deed
- deedable
- undeeded
- a good deed is its own reward
- almsdeed
- bond for deed
- counterdeed
- deeder
- deedful
- deedholder
- deedholding
- deedless
- deedly
- deed of appointment
- deed of assumption
- deed of retirement
- deed of trust
- deed poll
- deedwork
- deedworthy
- deedy
- do the deed
- estoppel by deed
- fordede
- indeed
- in very deed
- misdeed
- mortgage deed
- no good deed ever goes unpunished
- no good deed goes unpunished
- overdede
- propaganda by the deed
- propaganda of the deed
- quit claim deed
- quitclaim deed
- redeed
- special warranty deed
- time the deed to the need
- title deed
- trust deed
Phrases with deed
Words that rhyme with deed
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- weed
- proceed
- stampede
- concede
- accede
- exceed
- need
- bede
- knead
- mislead
- plead
- rede
- swede
- cede
- creed
- godspeed
- heed
- intercede
- keyed
- leed
- meed
- precede
- recede
- tumbleweed
- a friend in need is a friend indeed
- beread
- greed
- he'd
- indeed
- interbreed
- kneed
- mead
- secede
- she'd
- sneed
- steed
- supersede
- underfeed
- we'd
- ye'd
- agreed
- anasheed
- aniseed
- atheed
- caid
- co-feed
- cofeed
- counterplead
Questions about deed
- What does deed mean?
- Deed means an action or act; something that is done.
- What is deed in Hindi?
- Deed in Hindi is कार्य (kārya), करनी (karnī). See Deed meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is deed?
- Deed can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce deed?
- Deed is pronounced /diːd/.
- What is the plural of deed?
- The plural of deed is deeds.
Words near deed in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deed (page history and authors); Deed (page history and authors); क्रिया (Marathi) (page history and authors); کارنامہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); പണി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); deed (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); કર્મ (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-deed.ogg.
Cite this entry: “deed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.