An indignity is a situation — or a way of being treated — that makes you feel ashamed and not respected. Someone does something to you, or something happens to you, that takes away dignity: you are searched in front of everyone, talked down to, made to wait like a child, forced to ask for help in a humiliating way. We often say “suffer the indignity of…” or “the indignity of being…”. It can be one sharp moment or a slow pile of small ones. Though actually, what counts as an indignity depends on pride and on culture. The same act can feel like nothing to one person and like a deep cut to another. The word is about the loss of respect, not about physical pain.