humble

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 she'd been proven wrong, her attitude was still far from humble Synonyms demure, down-to-earth, lowly, meek, modest, unassuming, unpretentious Related Words acquiescent, compliant, deferential, resigned, submissive, unaggressive, unassertive, yielding; cowering, cringing, shrinking; ingenuous, naive (or naïve), plain, simple, unaffected; bashful, diffident, introverted, mousy (or mousey), overmodest, passive, quiet, reserved, retiring, sheepish, shy, subdued, timid, unobtrusive; aw-shucks, self-deprecating, self-deprecatory, self-effacing Near Antonyms aggressive, assertive, audacious, bold, brash, brassy, cheeky, forward, impertinent, impudent, saucy; cocksure, cocky, confident, hubristic, overconfident, self-confident; egocentric, egoistic (also egoistical), narcissistic, prideful, self-affected, self-centered, self-complacent, self-conceited, self-congratulatory, self-contented, self-engrossed, self-important, self-obsessed, self-pleased, self-satisfied, smug, stuck-up, swelled-headed; boastful, bombastic, braggy, swaggering, vain, vainglorious; condescending, disdainful, dominant, dominating, domineering, magisterial, overbearing, patronizing, pontificating; flamboyant, ostentatious, showy; extroverted (also extraverted), immodest, outgoing, uninhibited, unreserved Antonyms arrogant, bumptious, chesty, conceited, egotistic (or egotistical), fastuous, haughty, highfalutin (also hifalutin), high-and-mighty, high-handed, high-hat, hoity-toity, huffish, huffy, imperious, lordly, overweening, peremptory, pompous, presuming, presumptuous, pretentious, self-asserting, self-assertive, supercilious, superior, toplofty (also toploftical), uppish, uppity

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 Synonyms baseborn, common, ignoble, inferior, low, lowborn, lower-class, low-life, lowly, lumpen, mean, plebeian, prole, proletarian, unwashed, vulgarRelated Words bourgeois, middle-class; plain, poor, simple, working-class; déclassé, down-market, downscaleNear Antonyms eminent, illustrious, notable, prominentAntonyms aristocratic, blue-blooded, genteel, gentle, grand, great, high, highborn, highbred, lofty, noble, partrician, upper-class, upper-crust, wellborn

3 showing, expressing, or offered in a spirit of humility or unseemly submissiveness please accept my humble thanks for this unexpected favor Synonyms base, abject, menial, servile, slavishRelated Words hangdog, lamblike, sheepish; demure, lowly, meek, modest, retiring, unassuming, unpretentious; fawning, sycophant, sycophantic, toadyishNear Antonyms arrogant, haughty, high-handed, imperious, lordly, supercilious, superior, uppity

to reduce to a lower standing in one's own eyes or in others' eyes Philip was utterly humbled by a crushing defeat in the first round of the state chess tournament Synonyms abase, chasten, cheapen, debase, degrade, demean, discredit, disgrace, dishonor, foul, humiliate, lower, shame, sink, smirch, take down Related Words abash, confound, confuse, discomfit, disconcert, discountenance, embarrass, faze, fluster, mortify, nonplus, rattle; belittle, castigate, criticize, cry down, decry, depreciate, detract, diminish, discount, disparage, minimize, put down, ridicule, write off; bad-mouth, defame, defile, libel, malign, slander; affront, insult; censure, condemn, damn, denounce, execrate, reprehend, reprobate Near Antonyms acclaim, applaud, boast, celebrate, cheer, cite, commend, compliment, congratulate, decorate, eulogize, extol (also extoll), fete (or fête), hail, honor, laud, praise, salute, tout; acknowledge, recognize; highlight, play up, spotlight; dignify, ennoble, enshrine, ensky, enthrone, glorify, magnify; advance, boost, lift, promote, raise, upgrade, uplift; idealize, romanticize Antonyms aggrandize, canonize, deify, elevate, exalt