humble

Verb · Adjective
Synonyms: humiliatemortifychagrinabaselowlowlymodestsmallmenialbasebaseborn

WordNet 3.0

Verb (2)

  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”Synonyms: humiliatemortifychagrinabase

Adjective (4)

  1. low or inferior in station or quality“a humble cottage”“a lowly parish priest”“a modest man of the people”“small beginnings”Synonyms: lowlowlymodestsmall
  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”
  3. used of unskilled work (especially domestic work)Synonyms: meniallowly
  4. of low birth or station (`base' is archaic in this sense)“baseborn wretches with dirty faces”“of humble (or lowly) birth”Synonyms: basebasebornlowly
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Humble \Hum"ble\ (h[u^]m"b'l; 277), a. [Compar. Humbler (h[u^]m"bl[~e]r); superl. Humblest (h[u^]m"bl[e^]st).] [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. [1913 Webster]

Thy humble nest built on the ground.— Cowley.[1913 Webster]

2.Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; modest; as, a humble cottage. Used to describe objects. [1913 Webster]

3.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; weak; modest. Used to describe people. [1913 Webster]

God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.— Jas. iv. 6.[1913 Webster]
She should be humble who would please.— Prior.[1913 Webster]
Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of our . . . religion we can never hope to be a happy nation.— Washington.[1913 Webster]

Humble plant (Bot.), a species of sensitive plant, of the genus Mimosa (Mimosa sensitiva).

To eat humble pie, to endure mortification; to submit or apologize abjectly; to yield passively to insult or humiliation; -- 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. [1913 Webster]

Humble \Hum"ble\, a. Hornless. See Hummel. [Scot.] [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]

Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues Have humbled to all strokes.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
The genius which humbled six marshals of France.— Macaulay.[1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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