HUMBLE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Humble

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/hˈəmbəl/ Listen

adjective

Humble adj. (compar. humbler; superl. humblest)

1.

Near the ground; not high or lofty. "Thy humble nest built on the ground."

2.

Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; modest; as, a humble cottage. Used to describe objects.

3.

Thinking lowly of one's self; claiming little for one's self; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; thinking one's self ill-deserving or unworthy, when judged by the demands of God; lowly; weak; modest. Used to describe people. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." "She should be humble who would please." "Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of our... religion we can never hope to be a happy nation."

Humble plant (Bot.), a species of sensitive plant, of the genus Mimosa (Mimosa sensitiva).

To eat humble pie, to endure mortification; to submit or apologize abjectly; to yield passively to insult or humiliation; a phrase derived from a pie made of the entrails or humbles of a deer, which was formerly served to servants and retainers at a hunting feast. See Humbles.

Humble adj. Hornless. See Hummel. (Scot.)

verb

Humble v. t. (past & past part. humbled; pres. part. humbling)

1.

To bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humilate. "Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues Have humbled to all strokes." "The genius which humbled six marshals of France."

2.

To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride or arrogance of; to reduce the self-sufficiently of; to make meek and submissive; often used rexlexively. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you."

Synonyms: To abase; lower; depress; humiliate; mortify; disgrace; degrade.

See images of 'Humble'

Etymology of 'Humble'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Humble" Quotes from Famous Books

... his blunt, honest, bull-dog Englishness, which at the particular moment of his appearance on the artistic stage was a quality which was eminently serviceable to English painting. Though of humble parents, his honest and forceful character won for him the daughter of Sir James Thornhill in marriage (by elopement) and his sturdy talent in painting secured for him his father-in-law's forgiveness and encouragement. Thornhill ...

— Six Centuries of Painting • Randall Davies

... and sisters, every woman who had a youth's life at stake, came together, took boat, and went down the river, a strange fleet of barges, all containing white caps, and black gowns and hoods, for all were clad in the most correct and humble ...

— The Armourer's Prentices • Charlotte M. Yonge

... slight set-back it had been a glorious day for the 8th Battalion. There was really no comparison between this battle and that of September 29th. The attack on September 29th was undoubtedly more spectacular, but in our humble judgment, having regard to the extremely short notice received, the strength of the enemy and the many difficulties encountered, the breaking of the Fonsomme Line on October 3rd may truly be counted as one of the most gallant exploits of ...

— The Sherwood Foresters in the Great War 1914 - 1919 - History of the 1/8th Battalion • W.C.C. Weetman

... undone some of the things that should be done. Little more is wanting to effect this than the will, or perhaps the mere suggestion. A high influence may at a time confer a considerable benefit; but very humble means, systematically exerted, even during a comparatively short season, will certainly relieve a ...

— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 455 - Volume 18, New Series, September 18, 1852 • Various

... following pages will agree that the title bestowed upon him by his grateful and admiring townsman,—'The Hero of the Humber,' was well and richly deserved. He was a 'Hero,' though he lived in a humble cottage. He was a man of heroic sacrifices; his services were of the noblest kind; he sought the highest welfare of his fellow-creatures with an energy never surpassed; his generous and impulsive nature ...

— The Hero of the Humber - or the History of the Late Mr. John Ellerthorpe • Henry Woodcock

Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com