deem means A surname.
deem is pronounced /diːm/.
Why “deem” is a great word
To hold in belief or estimation; to regard as being or judge something to be the case, often based on careful consideration or authority. From Middle English dēmen ("to judge, think"), from Old English dēman ("to decide, decree, deem"), from Proto-West Germanic *dōmijan, from Proto-Germanic *dōmijaną ("to judge, think"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ("to set, put"). Unlike "judge" (which implies a formal, public ruling) or "suppose" (which suggests a tentative guess), to deem is to form a definitive, personal conclusion that carries the quiet weight of one’s own conviction. It is the archivist determining a document irrelevant, the physician closing a chart, or the heart pronouncing a long silence to be an answer—the quiet, irreversible moment when assessment hardens into belief, and the mind, like a hand setting down a stone, lets something stand.
Etymology
From Middle English dēmen (“to judge; to criticize, condemn; to impose a penalty on, sentence; to direct, order; to believe, think, deem”), from Old English dēman (“to decide, decree, deem”), from Proto-West Germanic *dōmijan, from Proto-Germanic *dōmijaną (“to judge, think”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”).
The word is cognate with Danish and Norwegian Bokmål dømme (“to judge”), Dutch doemen (“to condemn, foredoom”), North Frisian dema (“to judge, recognise”), Norwegian Nynorsk døma (“to judge”), Swedish döma (“to judge, sentence, condemn”), Finnish tuomita (“to judge”). It is also related to doom.
verb
- To hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.e.g.“She deemed his efforts insufficient.”
- To think, judge, or have or hold as an opinion; to decide or believe on consideration; to suppose.
- To judge, to pass judgment on; to doom, to sentence.
- To adjudge, to decree.
- To dispense (justice); to administer (law).
noun
- An opinion, a judgment, a surmise.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- deeming 77% match — The act or process of judging or of forming an opinion; judgment, estimation. vs deem →
- deemer 67% match — One who deems or judges; a decider, decision maker. vs deem →
- addeem 64% match — To adjudge; to try, test. vs deem →
- deemster 60% match — A judge; one who pronounces sentence or doom. vs deem →
- assess 59% match — To determine, estimate or judge the value of; to evaluate; to estimate. vs deem →
- appraise 57% match — To determine the value or worth of (something), particularly as a person appointed for this purpose. vs deem →
- contemn 57% match — To disdain; to value at little or nothing; to treat or regard with contempt. vs deem →
- bedeem 57% match — To condemn. vs deem →