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\n \n Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 29, 2024 is:\n \n

\n demean • \\dih-MEEN\\  • verb
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To demean someone or something is to cause that person or thing to seem less important or worthy of respect.

// By refusing to condemn the unlawful actions of her supporters, the governor demeaned the office she was elected to hold.

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\n Examples:
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\u201cBalding, bespectacled [Hubert] Eaton didn\u2019t lack self-esteem. He went by the godlike nickname \u2018the Builder,\u2019 and in the early days of his cemetery, he crafted a mission statement that sounded more like a set of holy commandments than a business plan. He had the Builder\u2019s Creed etched onto a giant stone tablet that still stands in front of the Great Mausoleum. The creed demeans traditional cemeteries as \u2018unsightly stone-yards full of inartistic symbols and depressing customs\u2019 and promises all who read it that the Builder will offer a better place for people to go after their deaths.\u201d \u2014 Greg Melville, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Sept. 2022

\n Did you know?
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There are two words spelled demean in English. One has a construction similar to its synonym, debase: where debase combines the prefix de- with an adjective base, meaning \u201clow\u201d or \u201cvile,\u201d demean applies de- to the adjective mean, meaning \u201cinferior or contemptible.\u201d The basic meaning the pair shares, \u201cto lower in character or esteem,\u201d is quite at odds with that of the other demean: \u201cto conduct or behave oneself.\u201d This demean comes from the Anglo-French verb demener (\u201cto conduct\u201d), and is generally used in formal contexts to specify a type of behavior, as in \u201che demeaned himself in a most unfriendly manner\u201d; \u201cshe demeaned herself as befitting her station in life\u201d; and \u201cthey knew not how to demean themselves in the king\u2019s presence.\u201d As such, it may be possible to demean someone for the way they demean themselves, though we assert that would be doubly mean.