Entry Word: humble

Function: adjective

Meaning: 1 not having or showing any feelings of superiority, self-assertiveness, or showiness <a medical scientist who remained remarkably humble even after winning the Nobel Prize> <even though sheʼd been twice proven wrong, Janetʼs attitude was still far from humble>

Synonyms demure, lowly, meek, modest, retiring, unassuming, unpretentious

Related Words acquiescent, compliant, deferential, resigned, submissive, unaggressive, unassertive, yielding; cowering, cringing, shrinking; ingenuous, naive (or naïve), plain, simple, unaffected; bashful, diffident, mousy (or mousey), overmodest, passive, quiet, reserved, shy, subdued, timid, unobtrusive

Near Antonyms aggressive, assertive, audacious, bold, brash, brassy, cheeky, forward; cocksure, cocky, confident, overconfident, self-confident; egocentric, egoistic, self-centered, self-satisfied; boastful, bombastic, vain, vainglorious; condescending, disdainful, dominant, dominating, domineering, imperious, lofty, lordly, magisterial, masterful, overbearing, patronizing, pontificating; flamboyant, flaunting, highfalutin, parading, ostentatious, showy

Antonyms arrogant, conceited, egotistic (or egotistical), haughty, high-hat, pompous, presumptuous, pretentious, prideful, proud, self-assertive, self-conceited, self-important, stuck-up, supercilious, superior

2 belonging to the class of people of low social or economic rank <a humble peasant girl who claimed she was chosen by God to restore the French king to his throne> — see ignoble 1