humble
/ˈhʌmbəl/ adjective, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms humbler humblest humbles humbling humbled
- adjective Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming. “He lives in a humble one-bedroom cottage.”
- adjective Having a low position or a low opinion of oneself; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; modest.
- noun People with a low position or a low opinion of themselves; those who are not proud, arrogant, or assuming.
- noun (Baltimore, slang) An arrest based on weak evidence intended to demean or punish the subject.
- verb (ambitransitive) To defeat or reduce the power, independence, or pride of.
- verb (transitive, often reflexive) To make humble or lowly; to make less proud or arrogant; to make meek and submissive.
- verb (intransitive, chiefly obsolete) To hum. “humbling and bumbling”
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A small town in Langeland municipality, island of Langeland, southern Denmark.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Russell County, Kentucky, United States.
- proper noun A city in Harris County, Texas, United States, the former home of Humble Oil.
Synonyms
simple modest unpretentious demure unassuming abased diffident humble-hearted low lowly meek mild poor resigned self-effacing verecund abase degrade depress disgrace humiliate mortify chagrin small menial base baseborn
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English humble, from Old French humble, umble, humle, from Latin humilis (“low, slight, hence mean, humble”) (compare Greek χαμηλός (khamēlós, “on the ground, low, trifling”)), from humus (“the earth, ground”), humi (“on the ground”). See homage, and compare chameleon, humiliate. Displaced native Old English ēaþmōd.
From Middle English humblen (“to humble”), from the adjective above.
From Middle English *humblen, *humbelen (suggested by humblynge (“a humming, a faint rumbling”)), frequentative of Middle English hummen (“to hum”), equivalent to hum + -le.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Near the ground; not high or lofty; not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; as, a humble cottage.
- adjective 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.
- adjective Hornless. See Hummel. [Scot.]
- verb To bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humilate.
Etymology [F., fr. L. humilis on the ground, low, fr. humus the earth, ground. See Homage, and cf. Chameleon, Humiliate.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “humble”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details