as in discrediting
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
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as in humiliating
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as in humiliation
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Recent Examples of humbling
Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Aug. 2025
Lela London, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
The rapid evolution of AI has brought many humbling surprises.
—Webb Wright, Scientific American, 18 Aug. 2025
The first risk is asking friends and family to believe in you and cut a check, which can be a humbling and sometimes unkind process.
—Rolling Stone Culture Council, Rolling Stone, 12 Aug. 2025
The Ravens put up 127 on the ground in a 31-point humbling of Denver last November.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 5 Aug. 2025
What's your last humbling and or hilarious moment?
—Outside Online, 30 July 2025
Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Sep. 2025
Representing India in a section that celebrates bold new voices is both humbling and encouraging.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 2 Sep. 2025
This, strangely, is both humbling and freeing.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
This doesn't sound like humbling or hilarious at all.
—Outside Online, 27 Aug. 2025
Kuang sees possibility instead, as though academia is meant to be constantly humbling.
—Hua Hsu, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025
Miami’s roster is the most expensive and high-profile in the league, and though the team was coming off a humbling 4-1 loss to Orlando City, Miami was heavily favored against a Galaxy team that had won just three games all season and allowed 52 goals.
—Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 17 Aug. 2025
That first year of grad school was humbling.
—Kara Mendelsohn, Flow Space, 13 Aug. 2025
The early weeks in the gym were humbling and eye-opening.
—Will Graves, Chicago Tribune, 7 Aug. 2025
Verb
This sub is routinely very humbling.
—Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Aug. 2025
Adjective
There are few things more humbling than standing over a bed of live coals trying to coax a skewer into something succulent, rather than shameful.
—Lela London, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
The rapid evolution of AI has brought many humbling surprises.
—Webb Wright, Scientific American, 18 Aug. 2025
The first risk is asking friends and family to believe in you and cut a check, which can be a humbling and sometimes unkind process.
—Rolling Stone Culture Council, Rolling Stone, 12 Aug. 2025
The Ravens put up 127 on the ground in a 31-point humbling of Denver last November.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 5 Aug. 2025
What's your last humbling and or hilarious moment?
—Outside Online, 30 July 2025
Noun
All of the footage of Powell playing football as Chad or Russ, went straight to Eli for his feedback, which was humbling, to say the least.
—Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Sep. 2025
Representing India in a section that celebrates bold new voices is both humbling and encouraging.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 2 Sep. 2025
This, strangely, is both humbling and freeing.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
This doesn't sound like humbling or hilarious at all.
—Outside Online, 27 Aug. 2025
Kuang sees possibility instead, as though academia is meant to be constantly humbling.
—Hua Hsu, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025
Miami’s roster is the most expensive and high-profile in the league, and though the team was coming off a humbling 4-1 loss to Orlando City, Miami was heavily favored against a Galaxy team that had won just three games all season and allowed 52 goals.
—Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 17 Aug. 2025
That first year of grad school was humbling.
—Kara Mendelsohn, Flow Space, 13 Aug. 2025
The early weeks in the gym were humbling and eye-opening.
—Will Graves, Chicago Tribune, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for humbling
Verb
-
This announcement, humiliating the involved member, is harmful.—
Kelly G. Richardson,
Oc Register,
29 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
For decades, Indigenous leaders and advocates across the state and country have been trying to convince school communities that the use of such mascots and logos are inappropriate, demeaning and harmful.—
Frank Vaisvilas,
jsonline.com,
29 Aug. 2025
-
One detainee who submitted an account to the court that was referenced by Gregorio described sleeping in foul-smelling facilities and facing demeaning treatment by ICE agents.—
Molly Crane-Newman,
New York Daily News,
12 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
With this humiliation, Joe snaps, and, in short order, commits several shocking acts of deadly violence.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
5 Sep. 2025
-
Another old hand, Rashid, took all three South African wickets to avoid total humiliation.—
Tim Ellis,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Further discrediting itself, Thursday’s writeup includes a marketing pitch for the SquareX platform.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
28 Aug. 2025
-
Wolfenbarger’s defense attorneys began to focus on discrediting Norma as a witness after prosecutors relied on her testimony to show the jury that her daughter Melissa had allegedly suffered abuse at the hands of her husband before her 1998 disappearance, according to WSB-TV.—
Sean Neumann,
People.com,
21 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
In a degrading battery, the researchers observed two key signs of trouble.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Aug. 2025
-
The result is an altering of the model weight by a whopping 216, degrading model accuracy from 80 percent to 0.1 percent, said Gururaj Saileshwar, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto and co-author of an academic paper demonstrating the attack.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
14 July 2025
Verb
-
If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, then came an ugly post-game brawl that has gone viral on social media all over the world.—
Michelle Kaufman,
Miami Herald,
3 Sep. 2025
-
Taking just the bare stats into consideration, Rooney's managerial career has been defined by a horrendously low win rate, but that is in addition to a spate of embarrassing off-field antics.—
Zak Garner-Purkis,
Forbes.com,
30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
What feels energizing to one person can feel mortifying to another.—
Benjamin Laker,
Forbes.com,
26 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
That prospect creates tremendous angst among activists who worry about the degradation of storage canisters over time.—
Teri Sforza,
Oc Register,
5 Sep. 2025
-
The research shows that the batteries generate heat under high-load conditions to counteract performance degradation, a finding intended to create more resilient energy storage systems.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Humbling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/humbling. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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