deign

While I would never deign to speak for all critics — I’ve been around enough to know I don’t need that smoke — we’re not generally fans of inscrutability.

From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026

Still, when she does deign to speak, there’s a dynamite scene where she dresses down Julian critically and psychologically.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026

And that brings down prices for every airline passenger—whether you deign to fly Spirit or not.

From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2024

Brown and black bears focus on the oily brains and nutritious roe of salmon when the fish are abundant and deign to chow down on whole fish only in years when salmon aren’t plentiful.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 11, 2023

I did, although God knows Lacey Pemberton would never deign to have me over.

From "Paper Towns" by John Green

His Ray always seems to be hiding behind a motorcycle visor even when he’s not and when he deigns to speak, the words trail off in a huff of exhaustion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2026

More than that, he also secured a prized meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a head of government who rarely deigns to trouble himself with mere foreign ministers.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2024

Tristan, when he finally deigns to see her, is already in the shadow of night.

From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2022

Beginning the documentary's in the thick of that wreckage establishes its slant, which you can be certain Musk will point out if he deigns to comment on it at all.

From Salon ● May 20, 2022

Though Quin Veturius is seventy-seven years old, women blush when he looks them in the eye, and men wince when he deigns to shake their hands.

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

That applied to observers who deigned to take photographs of the case's famous players in the courthouse and lawyers who pushed their questions into territory the judge had previously made clear were off-limits.

From BBC ● May 15, 2026

Times were unimportant, however, as the racers who deigned to take to the Stelvio course finetuned their lines down the course in the kind of flat light that is also forecast for Saturday's medal race.

From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have all issued rebukes to lower courts that deigned to question their reasoning.

From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2025

Readers might assume there were only the two the article deigned to mention.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2022

Mrs. Bennet deigned not to make any reply; but, unable to contain herself, began scolding one of her daughters.

From "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

The love of ambiguity can feel somewhat coy—Ms. Tokarczuk gestures toward the existence of occult mysteries without deigning to fully portray them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025

Before deigning to unveil his characters’ undeveloped souls, Bergman shows us the variety of masks they have been taught to adopt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2021

Later, his photography business would employ as many as 50 people, Nadar only deigning to go behind the camera for celebrities and friends.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 19, 2017

In 2013, she made waves by appearing on the cover of the September issue of Vogue without deigning to give the customary interview that went with it.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 27, 2016

He fussed over my condescension in deigning to learn anything about his country.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin