deserve
Syllables: de·serve/dɪˈzɜːv//dɪˈzɝv/
deserve verb: to be entitled to, as a result of past actions; to be worthy to have.
Verb
deserve (third-person singular simple present deserves, present participle deserving, simple past and past participle deserved)
- To be entitled to, as a result of past actions; to be worthy to have.
- After playing so well, the team really deserved their win.
- After what he did, he deserved to go to prison.
- To earn, win.
- That gentle Lady, whom I loue and serue, / After long suit and weary seruicis, / Did aske me, how I could her loue deserue, / And how she might be sure, that I would neuer swerue.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- To reward, to give in return for service.
- Gramercy saide the kynge / & I lyue sir Lambegus I shal deserue hit / And thenne sir Lambegus armed hym / and rode after as fast as he myghte1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XXX, in Le Morte Darthur, book VIII
- Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll call; / I may command at most. Get weapons, ho! / And raise some special officers of night. / On, good Roderigo: I'll deserve your pains.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- To serve; to treat; to benefit.
- A man that hath / So well deserved me.c. 1619–22, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, A Very Woman
deserve meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
deserve in Hindi
- to merit
- लायक़ lāyaq
deserve in Tamil
- உரிமையுடையவராயிரு, தகுதி பெற்றிரு, தகுதியுற்றிரு
deserve in Urdu
- to merit
- لائق lāyaq
deserve in Bengali
- যোগ্য হওয়া, প্রাপ্য হওয়া
More languagesFewer languages
- deserve in Telugu
- అర్హత కలిగి ఉండిన arhata kaligi uṇḍina
- deserve in Malayalam
- പ്രവൃത്തികൊണ്ട് അർഹത നേടുക, അർഹിക്കുക, പാത്രമായിരിക്കുക
- deserve in Kannada
- ಯೋಗ್ಯವಾಗು, ಅರ್ಹವಾಗು, ಪಾತ್ರನಾಗು, ತಕ್ಕವನಾಗು
- deserve in Sanskrit
- अर्हति arhati
- deserve in Arabic
- اِسْتَحَقَّ istaḥaqqa
- deserve in Persian
- سزاوار بودن sazâvâr budan
- deserve in Vietnamese
- xứng đáng
Examples of deserve in a sentence
- We don't think your article deserves reading.
- God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 11:6:
- the grantees named in the questioned deed executed by their father richly deserved receiving the family home.1967, The Pacific Reporter, page 510:
- Perhaps they do, but they don't deserve that the rest of us contribute money or appropriate public funds for the purchase of pictures and the construction of buildings.2008, Michael Walzer, Spheres Of Justice: A Defense Of Pluralism And Equality, page 24:
Synonyms of deserve
Antonyms
Forms of deserve
| third-person singular present | deserves |
|---|---|
| present participle | deserving |
| past participle | deserved |
| past | deserved |
Origin of deserve
From Middle English deserven, from Old French deservir, from Latin dēserviō, from dē- + serviō.
Words formed from deserve
Words that rhyme with deserve
9 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about deserve
- What does deserve mean?
- Deserve means to be entitled to, as a result of past actions; to be worthy to have.
- What is deserve in Hindi?
- Deserve in Hindi is लायक़ (lāyaq). See Deserve meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use deserve in a sentence?
- We don't think your article deserves reading.
- What part of speech is deserve?
- Deserve is a verb.
- How do you pronounce deserve?
- Deserve is pronounced /dɪˈzɜːv/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of deserve?
- The past tense of deserve is deserved.
Words near deserve in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deserve (page history and authors); deserve (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deserve (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deserve (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deserve (Kannada Wiktionary) (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-deserve.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-deserve.wav.
Cite this entry: “deserve.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deserve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.