self-deprecating

adjective

self-dep·​re·​cat·​ing ˌself-ˈde-pri-ˌkā-tiŋ 

: tending or serving to disparage or undervalue oneself

self-deprecating humor

He is far too self-deprecating … to assume the persona of a celebrity.

—Eve MacSweeney

self-deprecatingly adverb

… his own informal cluster of American dissident scholars, which self-deprecatingly calls itself the "consolation club" …

—Franklin Foer

Examples of self-deprecating in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Kucharczyk’s and Chanen’s partners enthusiastically support their wife’s endeavors, regularly appearing in videos, often in humorous or self-deprecating scenarios. — Carly Thomas, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2026

Fleury, who isn’t afraid of a little self-deprecating humor, knew from a young age that his path to the NFL wouldn’t include shoulder pads and a helmet, but a headset and a play sheet instead. — Andrew Destin, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026

Some of Sami’s videos also were humorous and self-deprecating. — Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 2 Sep. 2026

As a priest, Lamb held a calm, patient and somewhat self-deprecating sense of perspective. — Graham Womack, Sacbee.com, 29 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1834, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for self-deprecating

• accelerating
• accentuating
• accommodating
• accumulating
• adjudicating
• administrating
• affiliating
• agglutinating
• alienating
• alleviating
• amalgamating
• ameliorating