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Showing results for self-effacing. Search instead for Self-affairs.
Synonyms

self-effacing

British  

adjective

  1. tending to make oneself, one's actions, etc, inconspicuous, esp because of humility or timidity; modest

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • self-effacingly adverb

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In the pilot, she is insecure and self-effacing; when a car almost runs her over, she apologizes to the driver.

From Salon • Dec. 15, 2025

He has a wide smile and an easygoing, self-effacing way about him.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2025

In those days very few companies, least of all life and health insurers, would have dared to engage in self-effacing humor.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 29, 2025

Is it possible that today we are seeing a decisive erosion in popular tolerance of Biya's self-effacing version of semi-authoritarian rule?

From BBC • Oct. 27, 2025

With his pipe, genially self-effacing manner, and electrified hair, Einstein was too splendid a figure to remain permanently obscure, and in 1919, the war over, the world suddenly discovered him.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.