FreeScrabbleDictionary

demure

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
9
Words With Friends
11
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
See all 7 pronunciations
/dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/ · /dəˈmjɔː(ɹ)/ · /dɪˈmjɵː(ɹ)/ · /dɪˈmjʊɹ/ (US) · /dɪˈmjɔɹ/ (US) · /dəˈmjʊə(ɹ)/ · /dəˈmjʉə(ɹ)/

Definition of demure

3 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Modest, quiet, reserved, or serious.
    “She is a demure young lady.”
    “Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and that delight showed itself in her face and in her clear bright eyes.”
    “I was coming back from the ladies' room when I saw her. She looked demure. Oval wire-rimmed glasses. A sky blue jacket buttoned over a long black-and-white flowered shirt.”
    “[H]owever hard she pushed the tough-talkin' shtick, she remained doe-eyed, glowing and somehow unassailably demure.”
    “And in their daily lives, girls and women are pushed to conform to fairly narrow templates of behavior as demure or delicate.”
See all 3 definitions

adj

  1. Modest, quiet, reserved, or serious.
    “She is a demure young lady.”
    “Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and that delight showed itself in her face and in her clear bright eyes.”
    “I was coming back from the ladies' room when I saw her. She looked demure. Oval wire-rimmed glasses. A sky blue jacket buttoned over a long black-and-white flowered shirt.”
    “[H]owever hard she pushed the tough-talkin' shtick, she remained doe-eyed, glowing and somehow unassailably demure.”
    “And in their daily lives, girls and women are pushed to conform to fairly narrow templates of behavior as demure or delicate.”
  2. Affectedly modest, decorous, or serious; making a show of gravity.
    “Miss Lizzy, I have no doubt, would be as demure and coquettish, as if ten winters more had gone over her head.”

verb

  1. (obsolete)To look demurely.
    “Your Wife Octavia, with her modeſt eyes, / […] ſhall acquire no Honour / Demuring vpon me:”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English demure, demwre, an abbreviation of Anglo-Norman de mure port (“with a mature demeanor”) (compare Old French meur from Latin mātūrus): *si il seyt coy e de…

See full etymology

Inherited from Middle English demure, demwre, an abbreviation of Anglo-Norman de mure port (“with a mature demeanor”) (compare Old French meur from Latin mātūrus): *si il seyt coy e de mure port (Amur curteiz) (“he sits quietly and with a mature appearance”) * Documents illustrating the history of Scotland, CLV, 1306, Orders for the custody of Scottish prisoners, CLV: …et que eles soient de bon et meur port (“…with a good and mature demeanor”) * mss. Arundel, 220: ke cely qe vus amerez soyt de gentil manere, coy, de meure porture (“with a mature demeanor”) * (Monastic rule): de aunciene dame de meure porture ke pusse les plus ieuenes rieueler e endoctriner (“an old lady with a mature demeanor able to rule and educate the young girls”).

Anagrams of demure

1 play · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from demure

41 playable · top: DEMUR (8 pts)

Best play demur 8 points

5-letter words

2 words

4-letter words

16 words

3-letter words

14 words

2-letter words

8 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

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