deems

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of deem.

   The committee deems the proposal worthy of further review.

   Whoever deems the contract invalid must submit a written objection.

   Note

   The working form of the verb in modern prose, where it nearly always carries the 'regard as' meaning. The older senses of passing sentence, decreeing or administering law have fallen out of use. It can take two objects with no linking word, as in the board deems the plan unwise, or stand with a clause of opinion. The same spelling also serves as the obsolete noun's plural.

2. 2
   nounobsolete

   Plural of deem.

   Note

   A plural that belongs to an obsolete noun meaning an opinion, judgment or surmise, so it survives mostly as something a reader meets in older texts. In new writing, opinions or judgments do the job without sounding deliberately antique. Where it does appear, the clue is a determiner in front, as in the deems or her deems, which separates it from the everyday verb form.

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