modest
Americanadjective
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having or showing a moderate or humble estimate of one's merits, importance, etc.; free from vanity, egotism, boastfulness, or great pretensions.
- Synonyms:
- unobtrusive, unpretentious, unassuming, retiring
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free from ostentation or showy extravagance.
a modest house.
- Synonyms:
- unobtrusive, unpretentious
-
having or showing regard for the decencies of behavior, speech, dress, etc.; decent.
a modest neckline on a dress.
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limited or moderate in amount, extent, etc..
a modest increase in salary.
adjective
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having or expressing a humble opinion of oneself or one's accomplishments or abilities
-
reserved or shy
modest behaviour
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not ostentatious or pretentious
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not extreme or excessive; moderate
-
decorous or decent
Related Words
Modest, demure, prudish imply conformity to propriety and decorum, and a distaste for anything coarse or loud. Modest implies a becoming shyness, sobriety, and proper behavior: a modest, self-respecting person. Demure implies a bashful, quiet simplicity, staidness, and decorum; but can also indicate an assumed or affected modesty: a demure young chorus girl. Prudish suggests an exaggeratedly self-conscious modesty or propriety in behavior or conversation of one who wishes to be thought of as easily shocked and who often is intolerant: a prudish objection to a harmless remark.
Other Word Forms
- hypermodest adjective
- hypermodestness noun
- modestly adverb
- overmodest adjective
- pseudomodest adjective
- quasi-modest adjective
- supermodest adjective
- unmodest adjective
Etymology
Origin of modest
First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin modestus “restrained, decorous,” equivalent to modes- (stem of unattested modus, an s- stem akin to modus “measured amount, limit, manner” ( mode 1 ), perhaps from unattested medos, with the vowel of modus; compare moderārī “to moderate” ( moderate, from the same noun stem) + -tus adjective suffix
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.
