dignify

Verb

dignify (third-person singular simple present dignifies, present participle dignifying, simple past and past participle dignified)

1. (transitive) To invest with dignity or honour.
   • Your worth will dignify our feast.1616, Ben Jonson, Inviting A Friend To Supper

   Synonyms:

   honor, illustrate, aggrandize, applaud, enthrone, appraise, belaud, bepraise, commend, cry up

   Antonyms:

   mortify, shame

2. (transitive) To give distinction to.
   • Or, when more deeply moved, he would exclaim--
     "As noble thoughts the inward being grace,
     So noble whiskers dignify the face."1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 10

   Synonyms:

   adorn, grace, adore, apparel, array, invest, detail, beautify, bedeck, betrim

3. (transitive) To exalt in rank.

   Synonyms:

   advance, elevate, ennoble, exalt, honor, prefer, aggrandize, nobilitate, promote, raise

   Antonyms:

   demean, humiliate, abase, bring down to size, cut down to size, debase, defame, degrade, demote, depress

4. (transitive) To treat as worthy or acceptable; to indulge or condone by acknowledging.
   • I will not dignify that comment with a response.