Word of the Week

Deem

Deem is a verb, meaning to consider, adjudge, or determine. The word often appears in boilerplate contract terms, as in “this offer shall be deemed accepted by the Seller” and in statutes, e.g. “volunteers under this chapter shall not be deemed Federal employees” (42 U.S.C. §5055). Fowler’s considers deem to be “a fairly formal word.” The word comes from Old English, meaning “to pronounce judgment.” On the Isle of Man, a judge is still referred to as a deemster. The noun form of deem is doom, a judgment (similarly, the noun form of meet is moot). Doomsday, then, is just another way of saying “judgment day.” The Doomsday Book is actually a nickname adopted in the 12th Century to describe the massive two-volume compilation of statistics commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.