humble pie

Definition of humble pie

: a figurative serving of humiliation usually in the form of a forced submission, apology, or retraction —often used in the phrase eat humble pie

Examples of humble pie in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web They got served humble pie by Lamar Jackson and bounced back, suffocating Carson Wentz. — BostonGlobe.com, "Facing Prescott, Watson, and Mahomes in consecutive weeks is good preparation for the Patriots to fine-tune for the postseason and find out where they really stand.," 22 Nov. 2019 Johnson already had to eat a thick slice of humble pie when, on Saturday, he was forced to ask the E.U. for a Brexit delay until the end of January. — Karla Adam, Washington Post, "Brexit, fast or slow? Boris Johnson faces big votes Tuesday.," 22 Oct. 2019 Peter: May risks ending up with humble pie as the only flavor on offer. — Monitor Staff, The Christian Science Monitor, "Baffled by Brexit? You’re not alone.," 12 Feb. 2019 Six weeks, one collapsed move to China and several slices of humble pie later, Gareth Bale is very much back in the picture at Real Madrid. — SI.com, "Gareth Bale: Twitter Reacts as Welsh Star Saves Real Madrid Against Villarreal Then Gets Sent Off," 1 Sep. 2019 That ribbon was eventually revoked, and the would-be champion got a slice of humble pie instead. — Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, "Green goo and ghost peppers: When fair food entries go wrong, these judges pay the price," 16 Aug. 2019 Check your ego at the door when stepping foot inside the Miami Dolphins facility because humble pie has been the meal on the menu during the first two weeks of training camp. — Omar Kelly, sun-sentinel.com, "Kelly: Dolphins players reminded daily to ‘Get Over Yourself’ by new coach Brian Flores | Commentary," 31 July 2019 These types of plays will continue till the general elections unless Modi really eats humble pie and reaches out to the opposition. — Bloomberg.com, "Modi’s Roadblock: Parliament’s Worst Budget Gridlock Since 2000," 6 Apr. 2018 And a big serving for humble pie for some of the loudmouths on the left. — Fox News, "Ingraham: The lawlessness of the Democratic Party," 20 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'humble pie.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Humboldt's lily

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Last Updated

23 Dec 2019

Cite this Entry

“Humble pie.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humble%20pie. Accessed 23 January 2020.

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