condign means fitting, appropriate, deserved, especially denoting punishment. It carries an Arena rating of 1627, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, condign ranks #894 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,732 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,643 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #3,659 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
condign is pronounced /kənˈdʌɪn/.
Why “condign” is a great word
Fitting, appropriate, and deserved, especially used of punishment. From Middle English *condigne*, from Old French *condigne*, from Latin *condignus*, from *con-* ("with, altogether") + *dignus* ("worthy"). Unlike “excessive,” which implies an amount beyond what is fitting, or “undeserved,” which denies the very notion of merit, “condign” specifies a precise and perfect calibration of consequence to transgression. It is the single perfect stone that completes the arch, the cold iron of a well-balanced scale settling into stillness, the sentence that fits the crime so exactly it silences all protest; it is the austere comfort of equilibrium restored, where justice feels less like judgment than like geometry.
Etymology
From Middle English condigne, from Old French condigne, from Latin condignus, from con- + dignus (“worthy”). Compare deign.
adj
- Fitting, appropriate, deserved, especially denoting punishment.e.g.“Vnlesse it were a bloody Murtherer,
Or foule felonious Theefe, that fleec'd poore passengers,
I neuer gaue them condigne punishment.” — 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[w
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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