different between seriousness vs dignity

English

Etymology

serious +? -ness

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s??i?sn?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s???i?sn?s/
• Hyphenation: se?ri?ous?ness

Noun

seriousness (countable and uncountable, plural seriousnesses)

1. The state or quality of being serious.
   • July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises[2]

     Though Bane’s sing-song voice gives his pronouncements a funny lilt, he doesn’t have any of the Joker’s deranged wit, and Nolan isn’t interested in undercutting his seriousness for the sake of a breezier entertainment.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English dignyte, from Old French dignité, from Latin d?gnit?s (“worthiness, merit, dignity, grandeur, authority, rank, office”), from d?gnus (“worthy, appropriate”), from Proto-Italic *degnos, from Proto-Indo-European *d?-nos, from *de?- (“to take”). See also decus (“honor, esteem”) and decet (“it is fitting”). Cognate to deign. Doublet of dainty.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d??n?ti/

Noun

dignity (countable and uncountable, plural dignities)

1. The state of being dignified or worthy of esteem: elevation of mind or character.
   • 1752, Henry Fielding, Amelia, I. viii

     He uttered this ... with great majesty, or, as he called it, dignity.

   • 1981, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art. 5

     Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being.

2. Decorum, formality, stateliness.
   • 1934, Aldous Huxley, "Puerto Barrios", in Beyond the Mexique Bay:

     Official DIGNITY tends to increase in inverse ratio to the importance of the country in which the office is held.

3. High office, rank, or station.
   • 1781, Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, F. III. 231:

     He ... distributed the civil and military dignities among his favourites and followers.
4. One holding high rank; a dignitary.
5. (obsolete) Fundamental principle; axiom; maxim.

Synonyms

• worth
• worthiness

Coordinate terms

• augustness, humanness, nobility, majesty, grandeur, glory, superiority, wonderfulness

Related terms

• deign
• dignified
• dignify

Translations

See also

• affirmation
• integrity
• self-respect
• self-esteem
• self-worth

• dignity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• dignity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• tidying