Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The quality or condition of being humble.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The state or character of being humble; freedom from pride and arrogance; lowliness of mind; a low estimate of one's self; self-abasement.
- n. . An act of submission.
- n. A name of several different tattlers or totanine birds of the family Scolopacidæ. The semipalmated tattler or willet, Symphemia semipalmata.
[Massachusetts.]
Wiktionary
- n. The characteristic of being humble; humbleness in character and behavior.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The state or quality of being humble; freedom from pride and arrogance; lowliness of mind; a modest estimate of one's own worth; a sense of one's own unworthiness through imperfection and sinfulness; self-abasement; humbleness.
- n. An act of submission or courtesy.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a humble feeling
- n. a disposition to be humble; a lack of false pride
Etymologies
- From Middle English humilite, from Old French (h)umilité, from Latin humilitas ("lowness, meanness, baseness, in Late Latin humility"), from humilis ("low, lowly, humble, earth"); see humble. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English humilite, from Old French, from Late Latin humilitās, from humilis, humble; see humble. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“For many people, the word humility has come to signify humiliation or self-derogation.”
The Huffington Post: John Backman: Can Humility Change The World?
“And a lot of risk, the strategy that General McChrystal is proposing, means more forces out on foot patrols, interacting with civilian populations and doing it in a way, I believe the term humility is the term General McChrystal continues to used, that means exposing themselves in a bigger way.”
“To have been such a star for so long and still to have maintained his humility is a matter worthy of applause.”
“That those who humble themselves shall be exalted, and shall be established in their dignity: Honour shall uphold the humble in spirit; their humility is their honour, and that shall make them truly and safely great, and recommend them to the esteem of all that are wise and good.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“The Greek for "humility" is literally, "lowliness of mind," which forms a clearer parallel to”
“Only in humility can we begin to find the beauty in everything.”
“My personal appreciation that I owe a great debt to others reinforces my view that a certain humility should characterize the judicial role.”
“And that immediately set him apart from the hero, who had a certain humility to his gait.”
A House on Wheels : Anita Rau Badami talks about her novel Tamarind Woman
“We pledge that when we disagree, we will do so respectfully, without falsely impugning the other's motives, attacking the other's character, or questioning the other's faith, and recognizing in humility that in our limited, human opinions, "we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror" (1 Corinthians 13: 12).”
The Huffington Post: Jim Wallis: Seven Steps to Civility This Election Season
“The "facile historicism" championed by conservatives was really "little more than arrogance cloaked in humility," he declared in 1985, saying that "the genius of the Constitution" lay in "the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems.”
The Washington Post: Justice William Brennan, a liberal lion who wouldn't hire women
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘humility’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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@vcb.etym.prjct - SAT WORD DUMP - as ...
The words on this list SAT regulars that I haven't sorted and grouped yet. It's like my wordy holding pen. get it? holding the pen to write a word? HA! I love how lame my humor is.
iconoclast, glacial, agnostic, histrionic, treacly, contemptuous, captious, bombastic, bombast, perfidy, quiescence, sordid and 148 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Society
social work, coverage, affiliate, social security, ambulance, clinic, health, insurance, emergency, mail, letter, envelope and 101 more...
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POL - What is Mitt talking about?
Key terms from Mitt Romney's election campaign
good and generous..., hard fought election, go back to work, optimistic and po..., confident in the ..., optimism, uniquely American, nation of immigrants, want a better life, life in that plac..., pursuit of the ri..., richness of this ... and 369 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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The Golden Rule
TABLE OF PROPOSED RULES TO LIVE BY
The Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The Silver Rule Do not do unto others what you would not have them do un...ethics, reciprocity, silver rule, karma, tit for tat, newton's third law, virtue, temperance, fortitude, prudence, justice, humanity and 44 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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writing first chapter
revolve, vital, necessity, depict, archery, indegenous, native, lacrosse, similarly, recess, composition, indicator and 91 more...
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My GRE Vocab
moniker, sobriquet, prerogative, aberration, aberrant, nuance, notorious, infamous, content, refer, allude, renown and 109 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Barron's 1100 words you need to know ...
adamant, ardent, array, bereft, besmirch, constrict, culminate, egotist, exultation, falter, humility, invective and 8 more...
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GRE AWA
escalating, vehement, vehemence, hostility, paparazzi, regime, irrespective, scoop, exaggerated, overblown, unfetter, scrupulous and 272 more...
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know-it-all
eunuch, couvade, ecclesiastes, enigma, inevitable, crucible, genteel, bedlam, baculum, scapulimancy, atrophy, smut and 170 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for humility.
pradyumnaojha Hitler was not noted for his humility. Feb 15, 2013