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

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

Jay Kelly, despite sporting a lowly Metacritic score of 62 (out of 100), still feels like the Netflix film best positioned for a Best Picture nomination, if for no other reason than the Hollywood factor. — Joe Reid, Vulture, 17 Oct. 2025