dignify

present singular third person dignifies · participle present dignifying · participle past dignified · past dignified

1. transitiveTo 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 · Antonyms: mortify, shame

2. transitiveTo 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, adorn, apparel, array, invest, detail

3. transitiveTo exalt in rank.

   Synonyms: advance, elevate, ennoble, exalt, honor, prefer, advance, aggrandize · Antonyms: demean, humiliate, abase, bring down to size, cut down to size, debase, defame, degrade

4. transitiveTo treat as worthy or acceptable; to indulge or condone by acknowledging.

   I will not dignify that comment with a response.