deem

Etymology

From Middle English dẹ̄men (“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”). It is also related to doom.

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To judge, to pass judgment on; to doom, to sentence.
   [Section] 39. Being found by a constable on a highway, street, or public place, suspected of coming from land where he has been unlawfully in search or pursuit of game, and game or nets, &c. being found in his possession or in a cart, &c.,—the justices deeming the game unlawfully obtained from some land. 1872, George C[olwell] Oke, “The Synopsis of Offences, etc. within the Provisions of the 11 & 12 Vict. c. 43”, in The Magisterial Synopsis: A Practical Guide for Magistrates, Their Clerks, Attornies and Constables; […] In Two Volumes, 11th edition, volume I, London: Butterworths,[…], →OCLC, page 380
2. (transitive, obsolete) To adjudge, to decree.
   And it is hereby enacted, that in any zillah, in which the Governor in Council of Fort St. George deems it expedient to establish the zillah court, and the court or courts under subordinate judges or principal sudder ameens, at separate stations, it shall be competent to the said Governor in Council, by an Order in Council, to authorize the session judge to take cognizance of all criminal cases subject ordinarily to the jurisdiction of the subordinate courts, […] 1843, “Act No. VII. of 1843”, in East India. Acts Passed by the Honourable the President of the Council of India, and by the Right Honourable the Governor-General, for 1843;[…] (Accounts and Papers; 328), [London]: Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed,[…], published 28 May 1845, →OCLC, section XLIV, page 11
3. (transitive, obsolete) To dispense (justice); to administer (law).
4. (ditransitive) To hold in belief or estimation; to adjudge as a conclusion; to regard as being; to evaluate according to one's beliefs; to account.
   She deemed his efforts insufficient.
   To this sect belong also the Skakounui, or Jumpers. […] They refuse to take an oath, and will not bear arms, deeming it sinful to shed human blood. 1874, “Types of Russian Character”, in Edmund Routledge, editor, Routledge’s Every Boy’s Annual, London, New York, N.Y.: George Routledge & Sons, →OCLC, page 254
5. (transitive, intransitive) To think, judge, or have or hold as an opinion; to decide or believe on consideration; to suppose.
   [T]herefore had Abel and his works acceptance, when Cain and his had none, becauſe he was righteous, not ſo eſteemed of God while he was not ſo indeed (as T[homas] D[anson] deems) who becauſe he ſo does, deems that God (as himſelf) deems thoſe and theirs to be good and righteous, […] 1660, Samuel Fisher, “The Fourth Apologeticall, and Expostulatory Exercitation”, in Rusticus ad Academicos in Exercitationibus Expostulatoriis, Apologeticis Quatuor: The Rustick’s Alarm to the Rabbies,[…], London: Printed for Robert Wilson, →OCLC, chapter VI, page 220
   [I]f a man doe really deem the weather to be cold, or that his body is diſtempered, he putteth on warmer cloathes, or taketh phyſick: although peradventure he is miſtaken in both: for his deeming them to be ſo, maketh him demeane himſelfe in ſuch ſort, as if really they were ſo. 1665, Kenelme Digby [i.e., Kenelm Digby], “[The Second Treatise: Declaring the Nature and Operations of Mans Soule.] Of Thinking and Knowing”, in Two Treatises: In the One of which, the Nature of Bodies; in the Other, the Nature of Mans Soule is Looked into: In Way of Discovery of the Immortality of Reasonable Soules, London: Printed for Iohn Williams,[…], →OCLC, page 18
   [T]hoſe [remedies] that have obtain'd the Name of Antiſcorbutick, Antiſcrophulous, Traumatick, Vulnerary or Healing Medicines, and ſuch as are deem'd Sweeteners of the Blood, and Correctors of Acrimony, […] have all in their turns been held in high Eſteem; […] Some think the Cure of a Phthiſis is to be compaſſed only by Alkalies; others by Acids; abundance of Phyſicians are of Opinion that no Good can be done in thi Diſeaſe without Opiates, which ſome deem very pernicious; […] 1720, Benjamin Marten, “Of the Great Number of Medicines and Various Methods of Cure Recommended for Consumptions, with the Different Opinions of Authors Concerning Them, &c.”, in A New Theory of Consumptions: More Especially of a Phthisis, or Consumption of the Lungs.[…], London: Printed for R. Knaplock,[…]; A. Bell,[…]; J. Hooke, […], and C. King,[…], →OCLC, pages 101–102
   And deemest thou as those who pore, / With aged eyes, short way before? / Think'st Beauty vanished from the coast / Of matter, and thy darling lost? 1847, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Threnody”, in Poems, London: Chapman, Brothers, 121, Newgate Street, →OCLC, page 195
   Some deem it sweet to wander far abroad, / And view the beauties of another shore; / Some deem it sweet to shun affection's road, / And haunts of them whom once they did adore. 1853, Adam Anderson, “Some Deem it Sweet to Wander Far Abroad”, in Poems, Edinburgh: Thomas Grant,[…], →OCLC, page 110
   For example, record-breaking rainfall in the UK made February 2020 the wettest February on record, while July 2019 was deemed to be the warmest month on record worldwide. July 29 2020, Ian Prosser discusses with Paul Stephen, “Rail needs robust and strategic plans”, in Rail, page 42

noun

1. An opinion, a judgment, a surmise.