Word.ws English Dictionary

deem

UK/diːm/US/dim/

deem verb: to hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.

Verb

deem (third-person singular simple present deems, present participle deeming, simple past and past participle deemed)

  1. (ditransitive) To hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.
    • She deemed his efforts insufficient.
    • To this sect belong also the Skakounui, or Jumpers. […] They refuse to take an oath, and will not bear arms, deeming it sinful to shed human blood.1874, “Types of Russian Character”, in Edmund Routledge, editor, Routledge’s Every Boy’s Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge & Sons, →OCLC, page 254
    Synonyms:
    consider
  2. (ambitransitive) To think, judge, or have or hold as an opinion; to decide or believe on consideration; to suppose.
    • It may ſeeme a rude diſpoſition that ſorteth not with the quality of the age; and pollicy deemeth that vertue a vice, that modeſty, ſimplicity, that reſolotenes, diſſolutenes, that conformeth not it ſelfe with a ſupple and deft correſpondence to the preſent time.1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe...
    • [T]herefore had Abel and his works acceptance, when Cain and his had none, becauſe he was righteous, not ſo eſteemed of God while he was not ſo indeed (as T[homas] D[anson] deems) who becauſe he ſo does, deems that God (as himſelf) deems thoſe and theirs to be good and righteous, […]1660, Samuel Fisher, “The Fourth Apologeticall, and Expostulatory Exercitation”, in Rusticus ad Academicos in Exercitationibus Expostulatoriis, Apologeticis Quatuor: The Rustick’s Alarm to the...
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To judge, to pass judgment on; to doom, to sentence.
    • [Section] 39. Being found by a constable on a highway, street, or public place, suspected of coming from land where he has been unlawfully in search or pursuit of game, and game or nets, &c. being found in his possession or in a cart, &c.,—the justices deeming the game unlawfully obtained from some...1872, George C[olwell] Oke, “The Synopsis of Offences, etc. within the Provisions of the 11 & 12 Vict. c. 43”, in The Magisterial Synopsis: A Practical Guide for Magistrates, Their Clerks, Attornies...
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To adjudge, to decree.
    • And it is hereby enacted, that in any zillah, in which the Governor in Council of Fort St. George deems it expedient to establish the zillah court, and the court or courts under subordinate judges or principal sudder ameens, at separate stations, it shall be competent to the said Governor in...1843, “Act No. VII. of 1843”, in East India. Acts Passed by the Honourable the President of the Council of India, and by the Right Honourable the Governor-General, for 1843; […] (Accounts and Papers...
    Synonyms:
    declare, ordain
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To dispense (justice); to administer (law).
    Synonyms:
    judge

Noun

deem (plural deems)

  1. (obsolete) An opinion, a judgment, a surmise.

Proper noun capitalized: Deem

Deem (plural Deems)

  1. A surname.

deem meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

deem in Tamil

நம்பு, கணி, மதி

deem in Urdu

سمجھنا

deem in Bengali

to deem, to feel
বাসা baśa

deem in Malayalam

നിരൂപിക്കുക, നിനയ്ക്കുക, കരുതുക, വിധിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
deem in Kannada
ನಂಬು, ಎಣಿಸು, ಬಗೆ, ತಿಳಿ
deem in Sanskrit
बुध् budh
deem in Arabic
حَكَم ḥakam
deem in Persian
پنداشتن, خیال کردن, فرض کردن

Examples of deem in a sentence

  • And deemest thou as those who pore, / With aged eyes, short way before? / Think'st Beauty vanished from the coast / Of matter, and thy darling lost?1847, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Threnody”, in Poems, London: Chapman, Brothers, 121, Newgate Street, →OCLC, page 195:
  • Some deem it sweet to wander far abroad, / And view the beauties of another shore; / Some deem it sweet to shun affection's road, / And haunts of them whom once they did adore.1853, Adam Anderson, “Some Deem it Sweet to Wander Far Abroad”, in Poems, Edinburgh: Thomas Grant, […], →OCLC, page 110:
  • For example, record-breaking rainfall in the UK made February 2020 the wettest February on record, while July 2019 was deemed to be the warmest month on record worldwide.2020 July 29, Ian Prosser discusses with Paul Stephen, “Rail needs robust and strategic plans”, in Rail, page 42:

All 40 example sentences with deem

Synonyms of deem

21 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of deem

Forms of deem

Verb
third-person singular presentdeems
present participledeeming
past participledeemed
pastdeemed
second-person singular present (archaic)deemest
second-person singular past (archaic)deemedst
third-person singular present (archaic)deemeth
Noun
pluraldeems
Proper noun
pluralDeems

Past tense of deem: deemed

Origin of deem

From Middle English dēmen (“to judge; to criticize, condemn; to impose a penalty on, sentence; to direct, order; to believe, think, deem”), from Old English dēman (“to decide, decree, deem”), from Proto-West Germanic *dōmijan, from Proto-Germanic *dōmijaną (“to judge, think”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”). The word is cognate with Danish and Norwegian Bokmål dømme (“to judge”), Dutch doemen (“to condemn, foredoom”), North Frisian dema (“to judge, recognise”), Norwegian Nynorsk døma (“to judge”), Swedish döma (“to judge, sentence, condemn”), Finnish tuomita (“to judge”). It is also related to doom.

From Middle English deme, from the verb (see above).

Words formed from deem

Words that rhyme with deem

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about deem

What does deem mean?
Deem means to hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.
What is deem in Tamil?
Deem in Tamil is நம்பு, கணி, மதி. See Deem meaning in Tamil.
How do you use deem in a sentence?
And deemest thou as those who pore, / With aged eyes, short way before? / Think'st Beauty vanished from the coast / Of matter, and thy darling lost?
What part of speech is deem?
Deem can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce deem?
Deem is pronounced /diːm/ (UK).
What is the past tense of deem?
The past tense of deem is deemed.

Words near deem in the dictionary

  1. deels
  2. deely bobber
  3. deely bobbers
  4. deely bopper
  5. deely boppers
  6. deem
  7. deem'd
  8. deembed
  9. deembedded
  10. deembedding
  11. deembeds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deem (page history and authors); Deem (page history and authors); deem (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deem (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); বাসা (Bengali) (page history and authors); deem (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deem (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); बुध् (Sanskrit) (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-au-deem.ogg.

Cite this entry: “deem.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deem. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.