DictionaryAI

deserve

verb
Saydi-ZURV/dɪˈzɝv/UK/dɪˈzɜːv/

Formsdeserves, deserving, deserved

4 meanings of deserve

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To be entitled to something as a result of past actions, or to be worthy of having it.

    Years of dedication mean she deserves the promotion.

    Workers who take such risks deserve fair compensation.

    UsageTakes a noun or to + verb: deserve a rest, deserve to win. Less often an -ing form: the book deserves reading.

    Similarmerit, earn, warrant

    Note

    It takes a noun, a to-infinitive or, less often, an -ing form: the team deserved their win, he deserved to go to prison, the article deserves reading. It fits punishment as well as reward: the King James Bible of 1611 weighs what "thine iniquity deserveth."

  2. 2
    verbobsolete
    To earn or win something through one's own actions.
    That gentle Lady, whom I loue and serue, / After long suit and weary seruicis, / Did aske me, how I could her loue deserue, / And how she might be sure, that I would neuer swerue.
    1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
    Note

    Here deserving is something done rather than something possessed: effort wins the prize. In Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590), the speaker, after "long suit and weary services," is asked how he could "her love deserve." The question is how he could win it, not whether he merits it. A modern reader slips easily into the worthiness reading, so older verse that uses this verb repays a second look.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene, whose first three books, including the quoted Book III passage, were first published in 1590. en.wikisource.org
    • The Squire of Dames recounts his lady asking how he could deserve her love after long service; the item modernizes the quotation's spelling. gutenberg.org
    • Deserve in this passage exemplifies the obsolete earn or win meaning. en.wiktionary.org
  3. 3
    verbobsolete
    To reward someone, giving something in return for service rendered.
    Gramercy saide the kynge / & I lyue sir Lambegus I shal deserue hit / And thenne sir Lambegus armed hym / and rode after as fast as he myghte
    1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur
    Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll call; / I may command at most. Get weapons, ho! / And raise some special officers of night. / On, good Roderigo: I'll deserve your pains.
    c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”
    Note

    The direction runs backward from today's verb. The one who gives the reward is the subject, and the object is the service being repaid. In Shakespeare's Othello, "I'll deserve your pains," said to Roderigo, promises to repay his trouble, and Malory's king in Le Morte Darthur (1485) says "I shal deserue hit" of help promised to him. Read either line as merit and its meaning turns inside out.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • In this obsolete sense, the subject rewards or repays a service expressed by the object. en.wiktionary.org
    • Shakespeare's Othello contains the quotation, addressed by Brabantio to Roderigo. shakespeare.mit.edu
    • Malory's Le Morte Darthur was first printed in 1485. en.wikipedia.org
    • The king says the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
    • The king is responding to Lambegus's promise to rescue the queen; the rescue has not yet been attempted. en.wikisource.org

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    verbobsolete
    To serve, treat, or be of benefit to someone.
    Note

    Of all the senses, this one sits closest to the Latin serviō behind the modern verb. The person served is the object, and merit does not enter at all. Philip Massinger and John Fletcher's A Very Woman praises "a man that hath so well deserved me," meaning one who has treated the speaker well. The adverb well is the clue. Read with today's meaning, the line would wrongly sound like a claim of entitlement.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Latin serviō, meaning to serve, lies behind English deserve through the compound dēserviō. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Latin verb serviō means to serve. en.wiktionary.org
    • A Very Woman is attributed to Philip Massinger and John Fletcher. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quoted wording is attested in A Very Woman under the obsolete sense meaning to serve, treat, or benefit someone; 'me' denotes the beneficiary. en.wiktionary.org

Use it in a sentence

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Origin

The word goes back to Latin 'dēserviō', built from 'dē-' and 'serviō' ('to serve'); Old French took it over as 'deservir', and English borrowed that as Middle English 'deserven'.