humble
Part of speech: adj
noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English humble, from Old French humble, umble, humle, from Latin humilis (“low, slight, hence mean, humble”) (compare Greek χαμηλός (khamēlós, “on the ground, low, trifling”)), from humus (“the earth, ground”), humi (“on the ground”). See homage, and compare chameleon, humiliate. Displaced native Old English ēaþmōd.
Inflected forms:
form: humbler
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: more humble
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: humblest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: most humble
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: humbles
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: humbles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: humbling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: humbled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: humbled
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming.
pos: adj
examples: He lives in a humble one-bedroom cottage.
17th century, Abraham Cowley, The Shortness of Life and Uncertainty of Riches
The wise example of the heavenly lark.
Thy fellow poet, Cowley, mark,
Above the clouds let thy proud music sound,
Thy humble nest build on the ground.
Roominess and unroominess in a human dwelling, even of the humblest kind, are important matters in their bearing upon man's character.
Undoubtedly it can be said that the humble 0-6-0 has been the backbone for general service, or general utility on British railways right from their earliest days, and is likely to remain so.
Lucky that my lips not only mumble / They spill kisses like a fountain / Lucky that my breasts are small and humble / So you don't confuse 'em with mountains
gloss: Having a low position or a low opinion of oneself; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; modest.
pos: adj
examples: She ſhould be humble, who would pleaſe;
 And ſhe muſt ſuffer, who can love.
Rosol's 65 winners to Nadal's 41 was one of the crucial statistics in the 3hr 18min match that ended in a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 triumph labelled a "miracle" by Rosol, who was humble enough to offer commiserations to Nadal.
gloss: People with a low position or a low opinion of themselves; those who are not proud, arrogant, or assuming.
pos: noun
examples: But he giueth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proude, but giueth grace vnto the humble.
c. 590 AD: Liber Regulae Pastoralis by Pope Gregory I
"The humble are to be admonished not to be more submissive than is right".
gloss: An arrest based on weak evidence intended to demean or punish the subject.
pos: noun
tags: slang
examples: You're on a corner in my district, it ain't gonna be about no humble, it ain't gonna be about no loitering charge, nothing like that. There gonna be some biblical shit happening to you on the way to that motherfucking jail wagon.
Years ago, guys on Baltimore's streets would have, by definition, called an arrest for loitering a "humble."
A humble is a cheap, inconsequential arrest that nonetheless gives the guy a night or two in jail before he sees a court commissioner. You can arrest people on “failure to obey,” it’s a humble. Loitering is a humble. These things were used by police officers going back to the ‘60s in Baltimore. It’s the ultimate recourse for a cop who doesn't like somebody who's looking at him the wrong way.
gloss: To defeat or reduce the power, independence, or pride of.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues have humbled to all strokes.
Humble yourselues therefore vnder the mighty hand of God, that hee may exalt you in due time,
But, after the death of the master, the servant proved himself capable of supplying with eminent ability the master's place, and was renowned throughout Europe as one of the great Triumvirate which humbled the pride of Lewis the Fourteenth.
gloss: To make humble or lowly; to make less proud or arrogant; to make meek and submissive.
pos: verb
tags: often
reflexive
transitive
examples: And you say you've been humbled in love / Cut down in your love / Forced to kneel in the mud next to me
The final, quiet moments of the book return to Sten; his experience of his sick son humbles him, just as his aging body humbles him, and Boyle seems to suggest this makes him a better man.
Synonyms: abased
demure
diffident
humble
humble-hearted
low
lowly
meek
mild
modest
poor
resigned
self-effacing
unpretentious
verecund
Antonyms: arrogant
immodest
Related words: humbleness
humiliate
humiliation
humility
ashamed
dejected
embarrassed
reserved
servile
submissive
cautious
moderate
shy
Derived words: eat humble pie
enhumble
humblebrag
humblehead
humble-hearted
humble-heartedness
humble pie
humble plant
humblesome
humblesse
humblify
humblish
in my humble opinion
unhumble
unhumbleness
humbleness
humblehood
humbler
humbly
Translations: