# deem

> English word · Verb · IPA /diːm/ · frequency rank #18,536

## Definitions
1. To hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.
2. To think, judge, or have or hold as an opinion; to decide or believe on consideration; to suppose.
3. To judge, to pass judgment on; to doom, to sentence.
4. To adjudge, to decree.
5. To dispense (justice); to administer (law).

## Etymology
From Middle English dēmen (“to judge; to criticize, condemn; to impose a penalty on, sentence; to direct, order; to believe, think, deem”), from Old English dēman (“to decide, decree, deem”), from Proto-West Germanic *dōmijan, from Proto-Germanic *dōmijaną (“to judge, think”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”).
The word is cognate with Danish and Norwegian Bokmål dømme (“to judge”), Dutch doemen (“to condemn, foredoom”), North Frisian dema (“to judge, recognise”), Norwegian Nynorsk døma (“to judge”), Swedish döma (“to judge, sentence, condemn”), Finnish tuomita (“to judge”). It is also related to doom.

## Easily confused with
- **DM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dm)
- **due** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-due)
- **die** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-die)
- **del** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-del)
- **Des** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-des)
- **der** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-der)
- **den** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-den)
- **def** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-def)
- **dem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dem)
- **doe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-doe)
- **dye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dye)
- **dom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dom)
- **dev** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dev)
- **dim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dim)
- **dew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dew)
- **Dre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dre)
- **DEI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dei)
- **dex** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dex)
- **dum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dum)
- **DSM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/deem-vs-dsm)

## Common misspellings (4)
`ddeem`, `deemm`, `deme`, `edem`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/deem