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HUMILITY
humility, humbleness
(noun) a disposition to be humble; a lack of false pride; “not everyone regards humility as a virtue”
humility, humbleness
(noun) a humble feeling; “he was filled with humility at the sight of the Pope”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
humility (countable and uncountable, plural humilities)
The characteristic of being humble; humbleness in character and behavior.
Usage notes
• Commonly used to mean “modesty, lack of pride” (with respect to one’s achievements), and in formal religious contexts to refer to a transcendent egolessness.
Synonyms
• egolessness, humilitude, meekness, modesty, self-effacement
Antonyms
• pride
Source: Wiktionary
Hu*mil"i*ty, n.; pl. Humilities. Etym: [OE. humilite, OF. humilité, humelité, F. humilité, fr. L. humiliatis. See Humble.]
1. 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. Serving the Lord with all humility of mind. Acts xx. 19.
2. An act of submission or courtesy. With these humilities they satisfied the young king. Sir J. Davies.
Syn.
– Lowliness; humbleness; meekness; modesty; diffidence.
– Humility, Modesty, Diffidence. Diffidence is a distrust of our powers, combined with a fear lest our failure should be censured, since a dread of failure unconnected with a dread of censure is not usually called diffidence. It may be carried too far, and is not always, like modesty and humility, a virtue. Modesty, without supposing self-distrust, implies an unwillingness to put ourselves forward, and an absence of all over-confidence in our own powers. Humility consists in rating our claims low, in being willing to waive our rights, and take a lower place than might be our due. It does not require of us to underrate ourselves.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
19 April 2025
CATCH
(verb) grasp with the mind or develop an understanding of; “did you catch that allusion?”; “We caught something of his theory in the lecture”; “don’t catch your meaning”; “did you get it?”; “She didn’t get the joke”; “I just don’t get him”
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