humble
adjective · verb
Simple meaning
Not proud; not thinking you are better than others.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
huhmbuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhʌmbəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Having a low opinion of oneself; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; modest.
Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming.
verb
transitiveoften reflexive
To make humble or lowly; to make less proud or arrogant; to make meek and submissive.
transitive
Of an animal: to remove the horns; to poll.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
More ways to use humble
- “This experience will humble him.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
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Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Prostrate or semi-erect subshrub of tropical America, and Australia.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.