humble

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
But while the great can speak for themselves, or by the tongues of their admirers, the humble are apt to live inarticulate and die unheard.

View all »
Definitions (30)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful.
  2. adjective Showing deferential or submissive respect: a humble apology.
  3. adjective Low in rank, quality, or station; unpretentious or lowly: a humble cottage.
3 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (15)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (6)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 188 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

modest ·  honest ·  simple ·  pious ·  respectful ·  young

Used in the same contextWord Family

humble:   humbling ·  humblest ·  humbled
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (6)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Latin humilis, low, lowly, from humus, ground; see dhghem- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (5)

  1. from Middle English humbelen, humblen, for *hummelen (= Old Dutch hommelen), hum, freq. of hummen, English hum, like bumble, freq. of bum, boom: see hum. Cf. humblebee. For the form, cf. humble, humble, hamble, nimble, etc.
  2. Scots hummel (in sense 2); ult. a secondary form of hamble, mutilate, hamstring: see hamble. Cf. humble, a.
  3. Scots hummel, hummle, OSc. homyll, having no horns (cf. Scots humlie, a cow having no horns); from humble, v.
  4. from Middle English humble, from Old French humble, humle, humele, French humble = Provencal humil, omil = Old Spanish humil, Spanish Portuguese humilde = Italian umile, from Latin humilis, low, slight, hence mean, humble (cf. Greek χαμαλός, χαμηλός, on the ground, low, trifling), from humus, the ground, humi, on the ground, = Greek χαμαί, on the ground: see humus, human, etc., and chamæleon, chameleon, chamomile, camomile.
  5. from Middle English humblen, reflexive; from humble, a.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈhəmbl/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a week.

Recently looked up

affaire · end-run · deprive · income · plectrum

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich