Adjacent Words

humble definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: low or inferior in station or quality; "a humble cottage"; "a lowly parish priest"; "a modest man of the people"; "small beginnings" [syn: humble, low, lowly, modest, small]
2: marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful; "a humble apology"; "essentially humble...and self-effacing, he achieved the highest formal honors and distinctions"- B.K.Malinowski [ant: proud]
3: used of unskilled work (especially domestic work) [syn: humble, menial, lowly]
4: of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense); "baseborn wretches with dirty faces"; "of humble (or lowly) birth" [syn: base, baseborn, humble, lowly] v
1: cause to be unpretentious; "This experience will humble him"
2: cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of; "He humiliated his colleague by criticising him in front of the boss" [syn: humiliate, mortify, chagrin, humble, abase]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective (humbler; humblest) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin humilis low, humble, from humus earth; akin to Greek chth?n earth, chamai on the ground Date: 13th century 1. not proud or haughty ; not arrogant or assertive 2. reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission <a humble apology> 3. a. ranking low in a hierarchy or scale ; insignificant, unpretentious b. not costly or luxurious <a humble contraption> • humbleness noun • humbly adverb II. transitive verb (humbled; humbling) Date: 14th century 1. to make humble in spirit or manner 2. to destroy the power, independence, or prestige of • humbler noun • humblingly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & v. --adj. 1 a having or showing a low estimate of one's own importance. b offered with or affected by such an estimate (if you want my humble opinion). 2 of low social or political rank (humble origins). 3 (of a thing) of modest pretensions, dimensions, etc. --v.tr. 1 make humble; bring low; abase. 2 lower the rank or status of. Phrases and idioms: eat humble pie make a humble apology; accept humiliation. Derivatives: humbleness n. humbly adv. Etymology: ME umble, humble f. OF umble f. L humilis lowly f. humus ground: humble pie f. UMBLES

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Humble Hum"ble, a. Hornless. See Hummel. [Scot.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Humble Hum"ble, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Humbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Humbling.] 1. To bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humilate. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues Have humbled to all strokes. --Shak. The genius which humbled six marshals of France. --Macaulay. 2. To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride or arrogance of; to reduce the self-sufficiently of; to make meek and submissive; -- often used rexlexively. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you. --1 Pet. v. 6. Syn: To abase; lower; depress; humiliate; mortify; disgrace; degrade.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Humble Hum"ble, a. [Compar. Humbler; superl. Humblest.] [F., fr. L. humilis on the ground, low, fr. humus the earth, ground. See Homage, and cf. Chameleon, Humiliate.] 1. Near the ground; not high or lofty; not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; as, a humble cottage. THy humble nest built on the ground. --Cowley. 2. Thinking lowly of one's self; claiming little for one's self; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; thinking one's self ill-deserving or unworthy, when judged by the demands of God; lowly; waek; modest. God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. --Jas. iv. 6. She should be humble who would please. --Prior. Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of our . . . religion we can never hope to be a happy nation. --Washington. Humble plant (Bot.), a species of sensitive plant, of the genus Mimosa (M. sensitiva). To eat humble pie, to endure mortification; to submit or apologize abjectly; to yield passively to insult or humilitation; -- a phrase derived from a pie made of the entrails or humbles of a deer, which was formerly served to servants and retainers at a hunting feast. See Humbles. --Halliwell. --Thackeray.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(humbler, humblest, humbles, humbling, humbled) 1. A humble person is not proud and does not believe that they are better than other people. He gave a great performance, but he was very humble... ? proud ADJ • humbly 'I'm a lucky man, undeservedly lucky,' he said humbly. ADV: ADV with v 2. People with low social status are sometimes described as humble. Spyros Latsis started his career as a humble fisherman in the Aegean... = lowly ADJ: usu ADJ n 3. A humble place or thing is ordinary and not special in any way. There are restaurants, both humble and expensive, that specialize in them... ADJ 4. People use humble in a phrase such as in my humble opinion as a polite way of emphasizing what they think, even though they do not feel humble about it. It is, in my humble opinion, perhaps the best steak restaurant in Great Britain. = modest ADJ [politeness] • humbly So may I humbly suggest we all do something next time. ADV: ADV before v 5. If you eat humble pie, you speak or behave in a way which tells people that you admit you were wrong about something. Anson was forced to eat humble pie and publicly apologise to her. PHRASE: V inflects 6. If you humble someone who is more important or powerful than you, you defeat them easily. Honda won fame in the 1980s as the little car company that humbled the industry giants... VERB: V n 7. If something or someone humbles you, they make you realize that you are not as important or good as you thought you were. Ted's words humbled me... VERB: V n • humbled I came away very humbled and recognizing that I, for one, am not well-informed. ADJ • humbling Giving up an addiction is a humbling experience. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Meek, modest, unassuming, unpretending, unobtrusive, lowly, submissive, free from pride, free from haughtiness, without arrogance. 2. Low, small, poor, unpretending. II. v. a. 1. Humiliate, shame, mortify, degrade, crush, break, subdue, abash, make ashamed, bring down, put down, take down, put out of countenance. 2. Make humble, make lowly, render meek or modest or unpretending, free from pride.

Moby Thesaurus

abase, abash, abject, accommodating, acquiescent, adapting, adaptive, adjusting, altruistic, amenable, apologetic, base, baseborn, beat down, below the salt, bend, break, break down, bring down, bring low, bring to terms, broken, bump, bust, cast down, chagrin, chasten, chastened, cockney, committed, common, commonplace, compliant, conquer, consecrated, contrite, crush, debase, dedicated, deferential, deflate, degrade, demean, demeaning, demote, deplume, devoted, disadvantaged, discomfit, disgrace, disgrade, disinterested, displume, domesticated, dovelike, downgrade, embarrass, fell, flatten, gentle, homely, housebroken, humble-looking, humble-visaged, humbled, humblest, humiliate, ignoble, in the shade, inferior, infra dig, inglorious, innocuous, insignificant, junior, lamblike, least, less, lesser, let down, lose face, low, lowborn, lowbred, lower, lowest, lowliest, lowly, master, mean, meek, melted, mild, minor, modest, mortify, nonclerical, obedient, obscure, obsequious, ordinary, overmaster, override, overwhelm, pacific, passive, peaceable, penitent, penitential, penitentiary, plain, plebeian, poor, prostrate, pull down, put down, put out, put to shame, quell, quiet, reconciled, reduce, repentant, reserved, resigned, respectful, ride down, rude, sacrificing, second rank, second string, secondary, self-abasing, self-abnegating, self-abnegatory, self-denying, self-devoted, self-effacing, self-forgetful, self-immolating, self-neglectful, self-neglecting, self-renouncing, self-sacrificing, self-unconscious, selfless, servile, shabby-genteel, shame, sheepish, simple, sink, small, smash, softened, strip of rank, sub, subaltern, subdue, subdued, subject, subjugate, submissive, subordinate, subservient, suppress, tame, tamed, teachable, third rank, third string, third-estate, touched, trample down, trample underfoot, tread underfoot, tyrannize, unacquisitive, unambitious, unaspiring, unassuming, unboastful, uncomplaining, underprivileged, undistinguished, ungenteel, unimportant, unimposing, unman, unobtrusive, unostentatious, unpossessive, unprepossessing, unpresuming, unpresumptuous, unpretending, unpretentious, unresisting, unselfish, unsparing of self, unwashed, vanquish, vulgar