self-effacing

adjective

self-ef·​fac·​ing ˌself-i-ˈfā-siŋ 

-e-

: having or showing a tendency to make oneself modestly or shyly inconspicuous

His passions and faith run soul-deep, his gentle wit is always self-effacing and never insulting …

—Don Gaetz

… she was an extremely self-effacing, private person who never sought the limelight and did not leave the usual artifacts that enable a biographer to reconstruct life patterns.

—Douglas R. McManis

Synonyms of self-effacing

• withdrawn
• shy
• bashful

Examples of self-effacing in a Sentence

he's dating a sweet, self-effacing girl

Recent Examples on the Web

Compared to Chalamet, another leading man with great range but more naked ambition than Pattinson, the British star’s self-effacing personality comes across as more endearing, Weekman believes. — David MacK, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2026

The biography, drawn from interviews with Altman as well as with more than 250 of his friends, family, and associates, casts a balanced portrait of a figure who is by turns self-effacing and cognizant of his unique place in history. — Monitor Reviewers, Christian Science Monitor, 10 Aug. 2026

The overbearing online explainers and the off-the-cuff fuzz-rockers and the nine-and-counting films and the self-effacing but also self-aggrandizing mockumentary spin out from the same very modern feeling that to be is to respond and react. — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 24 July 2026

Neither can be considered a compliment but in landing on a self-effacing authenticity, Haaland is building a huge audience. — Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 10 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1854, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for self-effacing

• interfacing
• interlacing
• basing
• bracing
• casing
• chasing
• facing
• gracing
• lacing
• lasing
• pacing
• placing