Synonyms of lowly

lowly 1 of 2

adjective

ˈlō-lē 

1

as in low

belonging to the class of people of low social or economic rank

a tycoon who struggled all his life to overcome his lowly origins

Synonyms & Similar Words

• low
• humble
• plebeian
• lower-class
• ignoble
• inferior
• proletarian
• unwashed
• poor
• low-life
• lumpen
• common
• vulgar
• prole
• lowborn
• mean
• baseborn
• middle-class
• bourgeois
• simple
• plain
• working-class
• downscale
• déclassé
• down-market

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• high
• noble
• lofty
• great
• aristocratic
• gentle
• upper-class
• genteel
• patrician
• grand
• highborn
• prominent
• upper-crust
• illustrious
• eminent
• notable
• blue-blooded
• highbred
• wellborn

2

as in meek

not having or showing any feelings of superiority, self-assertiveness, or showiness

the nuns at the convent regard themselves as lowly servants of the Lord

Synonyms & Similar Words

• meek
• humble
• modest
• unassuming
• timid
• unaffected
• naive
• unpretentious
• shy
• down-to-earth
• demure
• simple
• quiet
• passive
• deferential
• submissive
• compliant
• subdued
• resigned
• acquiescent
• unassertive
• unaggressive
• plain
• yielding
• shrinking
• reserved
• bashful
• diffident
• mousy
• retiring
• sheepish
• ingenuous
• unobtrusive
• introverted
• cowering
• cringing
• overmodest
• self-effacing
• self-deprecating
• aw-shucks
• self-deprecatory

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• superior
• arrogant
• haughty
• high-and-mighty
• pompous
• pretentious
• supercilious
• uppity
• bumptious
• imperious
• lordly
• presumptuous
• conceited
• impudent
• aggressive
• egotistic
• forward
• impertinent
• peremptory
• highfalutin
• huffy
• overweening
• uppish
• high-hat
• cheeky
• presuming
• confident
• chesty
• saucy
• brassy
• audacious
• high-handed
• cocky
• bold
• assertive
• brash
• smug
• overconfident
• dominant
• hoity-toity
• hubristic
• vain
• prideful
• egocentric
• narcissistic
• toplofty
• cocksure
• vainglorious
• egoistic
• boastful
• disdainful
• huffish
• bombastic
• fastuous
• self-assertive
• domineering
• self-asserting
• overbearing
• condescending
• swaggering
• patronizing
• dominating
• self-important
• magisterial
• showy
• self-confident
• flamboyant
• ostentatious
• stuck-up
• self-centered
• self-contented
• self-conceited
• self-complacent
• self-satisfied
• outgoing
• self-obsessed
• self-engrossed
• immodest
• self-affected
• braggy
• self-congratulatory
• uninhibited
• self-pleased
• swelled-headed
• extroverted
• unreserved
• pontificating

lowly

2 of 2

adverb

as in humbly

in a manner showing no signs of pride or self-assertion

lowly bowing before his king, he accepted his knighthood

Synonyms & Similar Words

• humbly
• meekly
• abjectly
• cap in hand
• deferentially
• sheepishly
• modestly
• submissively
• politely
• hat in hand
• meanly
• fearfully
• obsequiously
• servilely
• subserviently
• timidly
• diffidently
• shyly
• timorously
• bashfully
• mousily
• courteously
• respectfully
• civilly
• self-deprecatingly
• suppliantly

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• proudly
• contemptuously
• boldly
• arrogantly
• loftily
• scornfully
• haughtily
• brazenly
• imperiously
• pompously
• pretentiously
• presumptuously
• superciliously
• pridefully
• audaciously
• brashly
• huffily
• fearlessly
• disdainfully
• swaggeringly
• recklessly
• self-importantly
• impertinently
• disrespectfully
• rashly
• rudely
• discourteously
• saucily
• uppishly
• ungraciously
• impudently
• uncivilly
• impolitely
• bitchily

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of lowly

Adjective

Except the A’s—who, for their part, had finished the month of July with a lowly record of 5–19—won the next game, too. — Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2026

And the Liberty will move on to another lowly opponent — the Connecticut Sun — on Saturday. — Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 14 Aug. 2026

Adverb

To win the division, the Ravens would need to win at Green Bay and Pittsburgh and have the Steelers lose to lowly Cleveland in Week 17. — CBS News, 22 Dec. 2025

Only lowly Oklahoma State, last and winless in the conference, is worse at scoring. — Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 7 Nov. 2025