Literary notes about dignified (AI summary)
The term "dignified" is used to evoke an air of nobility, restraint, and composed self-possession throughout literature. Authors employ it to highlight both the inherent virtue of a character and their external comportment. For instance, a figure described as dignified often exudes quiet strength and respectful politeness, intimating a refined nature even amid weariness or hardship [1, 2, 3]. In other contexts, the word underlines formal social decorum, as when public manners are expected to reflect a measured, self-assured bearing [4, 5, 6]. Whether underscoring moral gravity or signaling a cultivated, even ironic, posture, "dignified" enriches the portrayal of characters and settings with an enduring sense of reserved elegance [7, 8].
- This is Alec's mother, Mrs. Connage, ample, dignified, rouged to the dowager point and quite worn out.
— from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Przebyszéwski, with respectful but dignified politeness, held his hand to his ear toward Weyrother, with the air of a man absorbed in attention.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - “We must apologize most humbly, your reverence,” began Miüsov, simpering affably, and speaking in a dignified and respectful tone.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - At very dignified private balls, dancers should not stand in the middle of the floor and clap as they do in a dance hall or cabaret if the music ends.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - Her husband, a staid and dignified architect, came once a week to the villa, slept soundly, and returned to town.
— from The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - He did not go skipping and prancing, but moved with a dignified swagger as became a pirate who felt that the public eye was on him.
— from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete by Mark Twain - I used to remark, in Cairo, that few persons saluted me with a more dignified and consequential air than these pitiable but self-conceited beings.
— from The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I. - He began to walk up and down the room, and she grew more and more vexed at his dignified behaviour.
— from A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
