deserve
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English
Etymology
From Middle English deserven, from Old French deservir, from Latin dēserviō, from dē- + serviō.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA(key): /dɪˈzɜːv/
- (General American) IPA(key): /dɪˈzɝv/, /dəˈzɝv/
Audio (US) (file)
- Hyphenation: de‧serve
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)v
Verb
deserve (third-person singular simple present deserves, present participle deserving, simple past and past participle deserved)
- (transitive) To be entitled to, as a result of past actions; to be worthy to have.
- After playing so well, the team really deserved their win.
- After what he did, he deserved to go to prison.
- This argument deserves a closer examination.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Job 11:6:
- God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
- 1853, William Makepeace Thackeray, The English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century:
- John Gay deserved to be a favourite.
- 1967, The Pacific Reporter, page 510:
- the grantees named in the questioned deed executed by their father richly deserved receiving the family home.
- 2008, Michael Walzer, Spheres Of Justice: A Defense Of Pluralism And Equality, page 24:
- Perhaps they do, but they don't deserve that the rest of us contribute money or appropriate public funds for the purchase of pictures and the construction of buildings.
- (obsolete) To earn, win.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- That gentle Lady, whom I loue and serue, / After long suit and weary seruicis, / Did aske me, how I could her loue deserue, / And how she might be sure, that I would neuer swerue.
- (obsolete) To reward, to give in return for service.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XXX, in Le Morte Darthur, book VIII:
- Gramercy saide the kynge / & I lyue sir Lambegus I shal deserue hit / And thenne sir Lambegus armed hym / and rode after as fast as he myghte
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll call; / I may command at most. Get weapons, ho! / And raise some special officers of night. / On, good Roderigo: I'll deserve your pains.
- (obsolete) To serve; to treat; to benefit.
- c. 1619–22, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, A Very Woman
- A man that hath / So well deserved me.
- c. 1619–22, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, A Very Woman
Usage notes
- This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
- This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
Synonyms
- merit
- See also Thesaurus:deserve
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to merit
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Further reading
- “deserve”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “deserve”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.