Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Deserving |
DeservingAdjective1. Having sufficient worth; "an idea worth considering"; "a cause deserving or meriting support"; "the deserving poor" (often used ironically). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "deserving" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Synonyms: DeservingSynonyms: deserving(p) (adj), meriting(p) (adj), worth(p) (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Approbation | Deserving of praise, worthy of praise;Noun: praiseworthy, commendable, of estimation; good; meritorious, estimable, creditable, plausible, unimpeachable; beyond all praise. |
Belief | Worthy of, deserving of, commanding belief; credible, reliable, trustworthy, to be depended on; satisfactory; probably; fiducial, fiduciary; persuasive, impressive. |
Dueness | Adjective: having a right to; Verb: entitled to; claiming; deserving, meriting, worthy of. |
Virtue | Adjective: virtuous, good; innocent; meritorious, deserving, worthy, desertful, correct; dutiful, duteous; moral; right, righteous, right-minded; well-intentioned, creditable, laudable, commendable, praiseworthy; above all praise, beyond all praise; excellent, admirable; sterling, pure, noble; whole-souled. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Especially if they're men like this one beside me, deserving of a future in your blessing and goodwill. (We Were Soldiers; writing credit: Harold G. Moore; Joseph L. Galloway) A legitimate question, young man, deserving a legitimate answer. (Adventures of the Road Runner; writing credit: John W. Dunn; Chuck Jones) | |
Lyrics | Your performance deserving a standing ovation (Hella Good; performing artist: No Doubt) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Cartoon, on poverty in New York City, showing man, labeled "deserving, but out of work," standing in snowstorm looking at sign marked "police station lodging for unfortunate wayfarers, closed by order of T. Roosevelt".Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Aristotle | Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | The charges against Communism made from a religious, a philosophical, and, generally, from an ideological standpoint, are not deserving of serious examination. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He was one of those children so deserving of pity from all, who have fathers and mothers, and yet are orphans. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Erectile dysfunction is an important public health problem deserving of increased support for basic science investigation and applied research. (references) | |
Business | The WRC's main aim in making these strategic plans available to the research community is to provide guidelines and motivation for research activities in South Africa in the water-related fields most deserving of attention and commitment. (references) | |
Children | Jordan | Activists reported that the GID sometimes withholds these certificates from deserving students due to a family member's allegedly problematic record. (references) |
Civil Liberties | Botswana | When opposition politicians complained about this, the Government initially countered that the activities of ministers and other government figures were inherently more newsworthy and therefore deserving of more coverage. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | INSURANCE, n. An ingenious modern game of chance in which the player is permitted to enjoy the comfortable conviction that he is beating the man who keeps the table. INSURANCE AGENT: My dear sir, that is a fine house -- pray let me insure it. HOUSE OWNER: With pleasure. Please make the annual premium so low that by the time when, according to the tables of your actuary, it will probably be destroyed by fire I will have paid you considerably less than the face of the policy. INSURANCE AGENT: O dear, no -- we could not afford to do that. We must fix the premium so that you will have paid more. HOUSE OWNER: How, then, can I afford that? INSURANCE AGENT: Why, your house may burn down at any time. There was Smith's house, for example, which -- HOUSE OWNER: Spare me -- there were Brown's house, on the contrary, and Jones's house, and Robinson's house, which -- INSURANCE AGENT: Spare me! HOUSE OWNER: Let us understand each other. You want me to pay you money on the supposition that something will occur previously to the time set by yourself for its occurrence. In other words, you expect me to bet that my house will not last so long as you say that it will probably last. INSURANCE AGENT: But if your house burns without insurance it will be a total loss. HOUSE OWNER: Beg your pardon -- by your own actuary's tables I shall probably have saved, when it burns, all the premiums I would otherwise have paid to you -- amounting to more than the face of the policy they would have bought. But suppose it to burn, uninsured, before the time upon which your figures are based. If I could not afford that, how could you if it were insured? INSURANCE AGENT: O, we should make ourselves whole from our luckier ventures with other clients. Virtually, they pay your loss. HOUSE OWNER: And virtually, then, don't I help to pay their losses? Are not their houses as likely as mine to burn before they have paid you as much as you must pay them? The case stands this way: you expect to take more money from your clients than you pay to them, do you not? INSURANCE AGENT: Certainly; if we did not -- HOUSE OWNER: I would not trust you with my money. Very well then. If it is certain, with reference to the whole body of your clients, that they lose money on you it is probable, with reference to any one of them, that he will. It is these individual probabilities that make the aggregate certainty. INSURANCE AGENT: I will not deny it -- but look at the figures in this pamph -- HOUSE OWNER: Heaven forbid! INSURANCE AGENT: You spoke of saving the premiums which you would otherwise pay to me. Will you not be more likely to squander them? We offer you an incentive to thrift. HOUSE OWNER: The willingness of A to take care of B's money is not peculiar to insurance, but as a charitable institution you command esteem. Deign to accept its expression from a Deserving Object. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | Dangers from abroad are not less deserving of attention. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | I will do my utmost to be deserving of your trust. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Deserving" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Deserving" is used about 274 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 274 | 17,727 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "deserving": be deserving of ♦ deserving of heaven ♦ deserving of punishment ♦ deserving of respect ♦ deserving person ♦ the deserving poor. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "deserving": well-deserving. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
animal deserving proper treatment | 10 |
deserving thyme | 4 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "deserving"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | që meriton (meritorious), me meritë. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مستحق (deserved, due, eligible for, merited, worthy), مؤهل (able, capable, competent, eligible, fit for, fitted for, qualified for, qualifier, suited for, worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | похвален (commendable, commended, complimentary, creditable, laudable, meritorious, pious, praised, praiseworthy), достоен (condign, dignified, stately, worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 该" (Deserve, Deserved). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | zasloužilý (meritorious, worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | listen over de tjenestemænd,som er mest egnede til forfremmelse (list of officials considered most deserving of promotion). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | waardig (dignified, worthy), waar (authentic, commodity, genuine, merchandise, true, wares, where, worthy), eerzaam (above-board, honest, upright, worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | inda (worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | arvoinen (worth ..., worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | méritant. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | verdienstvoll (commendable, meritorious, meritoriously), verdienend (earning, meriting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | άξιοσ (able, capable, meritorious, worth, worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | ראוי (appropriate, designated, fit, fitting, meet, proper, suitable, worth, worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | jutalmat érdemlő, dicséretet érdemlő, érdemes (meritorious, rewarding, to worth while, worth, worthwhile, worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Icelandic | verður (worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | patut ditolong, berjasa. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | degno (worth, worthy), meritevole (dignifiedly, worth, worthy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 가치가 있음. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | toilchinagh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | fortjenstfull. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | eservingday godny (worthy). (various references) digno (August, comely, creditable, deserver, dignified, gentle, meritorious, noble, praiseworthy, respectable, worshipful, worth, worthy). (various references) merituos (rewarding, valuable), meritoriu (meritorious). (various references) заслуживающий (worthy). (various references) toilltinn, airidh (meriting, worthy). (various references) dostojan (worthy), zaslužen (condign, just, merited). (various references) meritorio (golden, meritorious, worthy). (various references) värdig (decorous, demure, dignified, worthy). (various references) değerli şey (asset, worth), değerli (costly, dear, dignified, estimable, meritorious, precious, rich, Valent, valuable, valued, well-beloved, worthy), layık (fit, fitting, worth, worthy, worthy of), ödüle lâyık kişi, ödüle lâyık (prize). (various references) mynasyp (deserving (of), worthy (of)). (various references) що заслугову", гідний (worthful, worthy). (various references) đáng khen (meritorious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | digna, dignam, dignareris, dignaretur, dignas, dignatus, digne, digneris, dignetur, digni, dignis, digno, dignos, dignum, dignus, idoneus, promerita. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Judges Chapter 9, Verse 16 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai nun ei en alhqeia kai en teleiothti epoihsate kai ebasileusate ton abimelec kai ei kalwV epoihsate meta ierobaal kai meta tou oikou autou kai ei kata to antapodoma thV ceiroV autou epoihsate autw |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Nunc igitur si recte et absque peccato constituistis super vos regem Abimelech et bene egistis cum Hierobbaal et cum domo eius et reddidistis vicem beneficiis eius qui pugnavit pro vobis |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Nowe thanne if riytly and withouten synne ye han ordeynde vpon you a kyng, Abymalech, and wel han doo with Jeroboal, and with the hows of hym, and han yolden while to his benfeetis, the which fauyt for you, and his lijf yaf to peryls, |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands; |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands: |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | So now, if you have done truly and uprightly in making Abimelech king, and if you have done well to Jerubbaal and his house in reward for the work of his hands; |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Judges Chapter 9, Verse 16 |
| Cebuano | Busa karon, kong nagbuhat kamo sa tinuod ug matarung, sa ingon niana nga naghimo kamo kang Abimelech nga hari, ug kong kamo nagbuhat sa alang kang Jerobaal ug sa iyang balay, ug nahimo kaniya sumala sa mga may katakus sa iyang mga kamot; |
| Croatian | Sada, jeste li vjerno i èestito uèinili kad ste izabrali Abimeleka za kralja? Jeste li se dobro ponijeli prema Jerubaalu i njegovoj kuæi? Jeste li mu uzvratili za djela što ih za vas uèini? |
| Danish | Hvis I nu er gået ærligt og redeligt til Værks, da I gjorde Abimelek til Konge, og hvis I har handlet vel mod Jerubba'al og hans Hus og gengældt ham, hvad han gjorde - |
| Dutch | Alzo nu, indien gij het in waarheid en oprechtheid gedaan hebt, dat gij Abimelech koning gemaakt hebt, en indien gij welgedaan hebt bij Jerubbaal en bij zijn huis, en indien gij hem naar de verdienste zijner handen gedaan hebt. |
| Finnish | Jos te nyt olette menetelleet uskollisesti ja rehellisesti tehdessänne Abimelekin kuninkaaksi ja jos olette kohdelleet hyvin Jerubbaalia ja hänen perhettänsä ja jos olette palkinneet häntä siitä, mitä hänen kätensä ovat hyvää tehneet - |
| French | Maintenant, est-ce de bonne foi et avec intégrité que vous avez agi en proclamant roi Abimélec? avez-vous eu de la bienveillance pour Jerubbaal et sa maison? l`avez-vous traité selon les services qu`il a rendus? - |
| German | Habt ihr nun recht und redlich getan, daß ihr Abimelech zum König gemacht habt; und habt ihr wohl getan an Jerubbaal und an seinem Hause und habt ihm getan, wie er um euch verdient hat |
| Haitian Creole | Koulye a, m'ap mande nou: Eske se tout bon vre epi ak tout kè nou nou mete Abimelèk wa pou gouvènen nou? Dapre nou, se yon bèl bagay nou fè la a pou Jewoubaal ak fanmi l' yo? Eske se sa Jewoubaal merite apre sa li te fè pou nou? |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | "Nah," kata Yotam selanjutnya, "Apakah dengan menobatkan Abimelekh menjadi raja, kalian telah bertindak dengan tulus dan ikhlas? Sudahkah kalian melakukan yang sepatutnya terhadap Gideon, ayahku, dan kaum keluarganya? Sudahkah kalian membalas jasa-jasa ayahku |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka sekarangpun, sungguhkah kamu berlaku dengan tulus ikhlas dalam hal merajakan Abimelekh? sungguhkah kamu berbuat kebajikan akan Yerub-Baal dan akan orang isi rumahnya? sungguhkah kamu membalas akan dia sekadar perbuatan tangannya? |
| Italian | Ora voi non avete agito con lealt e onest proclamando re Abimèlech, non avete operato bene verso Ierub-Baal e la sua casa, non lo avete trattato secondo il merito delle sue azioni... |
| Maori | Na ki te mea he pono, he tika, ta koutou mahi, i a koutou i mea nei i a Apimereke hei kingi, ki te pai hoki ta koutou mahi ki a Ierupaara ratou ko tona whare, ki te mea hoki i rite ki nga mahi a ona ringa ta koutou i mea ai ki a ia; |
| Norwegian | Så hør nu: Dersom I har gått opriktig og ærlig frem ved å gjøre Abimelek til konge, og dersom I har gjort vel imot Jerubba'al og hans hus, og dersom I har gjengjeldt ham det han gjorde |
| Portuguese | Agora, pois, se de boa fé e com retidão procedestes, constituindo rei a Abimeleque, e se bem fizestes para com Jerubaal e para com a sua casa, e se com ele usastes conforme o merecimento das suas mãos |
| Rumanian | Acum, oare cu adevqrat wi cu toatq curqyia ayi lucrat voi, fqcknd kmpqrat pe Abimelec? Ayi arqtat voi bunqvoinyq fayq de Ierubaal wi de casa lui? V`ayi purtat voi oare cu el potrivit cu slujba pe care v`a fqcut -o? - |
| Spanish | Ahora pues, si habéis procedido de buena fe y con integridad al proclamar como rey a Abimelec; si habéis actuado bien con Jerobaal y con su casa; si le habéis recompensado conforme a la obra de sus manos |
| Swedish | Så hören nu: om I haven förfarit riktigt och redligt däri att I haven gjort Abimelek till konung, och om I haven förfarit väl mot Jerubbaal och hans hus, och haven vedergällt honom efter hans gärningar -- |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "deserving": deservings. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "deserving": undeserving. (additional references) | |
| |
"Deserving" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: denshering, deshelving. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "deserving" (pronounced duzer"ving) |
| 7 | d u z er" v i ng | undeserving. |
| 6 | -u z er" v i ng | preserving, reserving. |
| 5 | -z er" v i ng | observing. |
| 4 | -er" v i ng | conserving, curving, serving, unnerving, unswerving. |
| 3 | -v i ng | absolving, achieving, approving, arriving, behaving, believing, braving, calving, caregiving, carving, caving, conceiving, conniving, craving, deceiving, delving, depriving, deriving, disapproving, disbelieving, dissolving, diving, driving, earthmoving, engraving, evolving, forgiving, giving, grieving, halving, having, heaving, improving, interleaving, interweaving, involving, jiving, leaving, lifesaving, living, loving, misbehaving, misgiving, moving, paving, perceiving, proving, raving, receiving, relieving, reliving, removing, resolving, retrieving, reviving, revolving, revving, saving, shaving, shelving, shoving, sieving, skydiving, solving, starving, staving, striving, surviving, thanksgiving, thieving, thriving, unbelieving, unforgiving, waiving, waving, weaving. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-e-e-g-i-n-r-s-v" | |
-1 letter: designer, diverges, energids, redesign, reedings, resigned, severing. | |
-2 letters: deniers, derives, deveins, deviser, dingers, diverge, diverse, dreeing, endives, energid, engirds, enviers, genders, greisen, grieved, grieves, inverse, nereids, reeding, reeving, regiven, regives, reigned, resined, revised, sedgier, seeding, serving, veering, veiners, venders, venires, verdins, versine, versing. | |
-3 letters: deigns, denier, denies, denser, derive, design, desire, devein, devise. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-e-e-g-i-n-r-s-v" | |
+1 letter: deservings, gerundives, overdesign. | |
+2 letters: desilvering, dissevering, divergences, misgoverned, overdesigns, overseeding, stevedoring, undeserving. | |
+3 letters: bedcoverings, divergencies, overdesigned, overdressing, overindulges, overspending. | |
+4 letters: eavesdropping, overdesigning, overspreading, rediscovering, rendezvousing. | |
+5 letters: digressiveness, disintegrative, overpersuading, overresponding, reinvestigated. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)44 65 73 65 72 76 69 6E 67 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-.. . ... . .-. ...- .. -. --. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000100 01100101 01110011 01100101 01110010 01110110 01101001 01101110 01100111 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)D e s e r v i n g |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0044 0065 0073 0065 0072 0076 0069 006E 0067 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)387185718488758073 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Historic | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Speeches 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Bible Trace 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Orthography 22. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
