Meaning & use
indignified or undignified
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
not showing the respect or serious manner that suits a person or occasion; making someone look foolish or not respectable.
Grammar: Describes behavior, situations, or actions, not people in general: an undignified exit, not an undignified man.
Patterns
- undignified behavior
- an undignified way to do something
- it is undignified to do something
Shouting at the referee was an undignified way to end the match.
He thought it undignified to beg for the job, so he walked away.
The whole ceremony felt undignified, with people pushing and arguing.
adjectivenot comparablerare
(rare) having lost dignity; treated in a way that takes away respect — a nonstandard spelling of 'undignified'.
Grammar: Extremely rare; most writers treat it as a spelling error. Use 'undignified' instead.
Patterns
- indignified treatment
You will almost never see 'indignified' in print; editors change it to 'undignified'.
The older spelling 'indignified' appears occasionally in old letters.
Common combinations
- undignified behavior
- The teacher called the shouting undignified behavior.
- an undignified position
- She found herself in the undignified position of lying on the floor.
- undignified scramble
- There was an undignified scramble for the free tickets.
- undignified exit
- The manager made an undignified exit after the argument.
- deeply undignified
- He felt the whole process was deeply undignified.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shameful
- Stronger and more moral: shameful suggests wrongdoing, while undignified suggests loss of respect or seriousness.
- unseemly
- More formal and often about behavior that breaks social rules in public.
- humiliating
- Focuses on the feeling of embarrassment the person suffers, not just the lack of dignity.
- improper
- About breaking rules of correct behavior; it does not carry the idea of lost respect.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: indignified or undignified or indignant? indignified or undignified or undignified?
indignified or undignified vs indignant
Indignant means angry because of unfair treatment; it sounds similar but has a completely different meaning from undignified.
indignified or undignified vs undignified
This is the correct standard spelling; 'indignified' is a rare, nonstandard variant that most readers will see as an error.
Practice
Which sentence uses the standard form correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Undignified' is the standard adjective meaning 'not dignified'. 'Indignified' is a rare nonstandard variant, 'indignation' is a noun, and 'undignify' is not a word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “indignified or undignified”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.