Word.ws English Dictionary

humble

Syllables: hum·bleUK/ˈhʌmbəl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northern England/ˈhʊmbəl/

humble adjective: not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming. Also the alternative form of hummel.

Adjective

humble (comparative humbler or more humble, superlative humblest or most humble)

  1. Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming.
    • He lives in a humble one-bedroom cottage.
    • 17th century, Abraham Cowley, The Shortness of Life and Uncertainty of Riches
      The wise example of the heavenly lark.
      Thy fellow poet, Cowley, mark,
      Above the clouds let thy proud music sound,
      Thy humble nest build on the ground.
  2. Having a low position or a low opinion of oneself; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; modest.
    • She ſhould be humble, who would pleaſe;
      And ſhe muſt ſuffer, who can love.a. 1722 (date written), Matthew Prior, “Cloe Jealous”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published 1779, →OCLC, stanza V, page 109
    • Rosol's 65 winners to Nadal's 41 was one of the crucial statistics in the 3hr 18min match that ended in a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 triumph labelled a "miracle" by Rosol, who was humble enough to offer commiserations to Nadal.2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in The Guardian, London

Noun

humble (plural humbles)

  1. People with a low position or a low opinion of themselves; those who are not proud, arrogant, or assuming.
    • But he giueth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proude, but giueth grace vnto the humble.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, James 4:6
    • c. 590 AD: Liber Regulae Pastoralis by Pope Gregory I
      "The humble are to be admonished not to be more submissive than is right".
  2. (slang, Baltimore) An arrest based on weak evidence intended to demean or punish the subject.
    • You're on a corner in my district, it ain't gonna be about no humble, it ain't gonna be about no loitering charge, nothing like that. There gonna be some biblical shit happening to you on the way to that motherfucking jail wagon.2004 October 17, Ed Burns, “Straight and True”, in The Wire, season 3, episode 5 (television production), spoken by Howard "Bunny" Colvin (Robert Wisdom), via HBO
    • Years ago, guys on Baltimore's streets would have, by definition, called an arrest for loitering a "humble."2005 April 23, Gregory Kane, “'Jive humble' arrests help fill Central Booking's cell”, in Baltimore Sun

Verb (1)

humble (third-person singular simple present humbles, present participle humbling, simple past and past participle humbled)

  1. (ambitransitive) To defeat or reduce the power, independence, or pride of.
    • Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues have humbled to all strokes.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • Humble yourselues therefore vnder the mighty hand of God, that hee may exalt you in due time,1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Peter 5:6
  2. (often, reflexive, transitive) To make humble or lowly; to make less proud or arrogant; to make meek and submissive.
    • And you say you've been humbled in love / Cut down in your love / Forced to kneel in the mud next to me1979 September 27, Leonard Cohen, “Humbled in Love”, in Recent Songs
    • The final, quiet moments of the book return to Sten; his experience of his sick son humbles him, just as his aging body humbles him, and Boyle seems to suggest this makes him a better man.2015 April 8, Dana Spiotta, “T. C. Boyle’s ‘The Harder They Come’”, in The New York Times

Verb (2)

humble (third-person singular simple present humbles, present participle humbling, simple past and past participle humbled)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) To hum.
    • humbling and bumbling

Proper noun capitalized: Humble

Humble (countable and uncountable, plural Humbles)

  1. A surname.
  2. A small town in Langeland municipality, island of Langeland, southern Denmark.
  3. An unincorporated community in Russell County, Kentucky, United States.
  4. A city in Harris County, Texas, United States, the former home of Humble Oil.

Also used as

humble is also the alternative form of hummel.

humble meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali

humble in Hindi

thinking lowly of oneself
विनीत vinīt, विनम्र vinamra

humble in Tamil

தாழ்மையானவர், தாழ்மையான, தாழ்மையுள்ளவர்

humble in Marathi

विनम्र, नम्र

humble in Bengali

বিনয়ী, নম্র, বিনীত
More languagesFewer languages
humble in Malayalam
താഴ്മയുള്ളവൻ, താഴ്മയുള്ളവൾ
humble in Kannada
ವಿನಮ್ರ, ವಿನಯಶೀಲರು
humble in Punjabi
ਨਿਮਰ
humble in Gujarati
નમ્ર, વિનમ્ર
humble in Odia
ନମ୍ର namra
humble in Nepali
विनम्र, नम्र
humble in Arabic
مُتَوَاضِع mutawāḍiʕ, وضع
humble in Indonesian
rendah hati
humble in Persian
فروتن forutan
humble in Vietnamese
khiêm tốn, khúm núm, hạ thấp

Examples of humble in a sentence

  • Roominess and unroominess in a human dwelling, even of the humblest kind, are important matters in their bearing upon man's character.1894, Irish Builder and Engineer, volume 36, page 147:
  • Undoubtedly it can be said that the humble 0-6-0 has been the backbone for general service, or general utility on British railways right from their earliest days, and is likely to remain so.1945 November and December, H. C. Casserley, “Random Reflections on British Locomotive Types—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 320:
  • Lucky that my lips not only mumble / They spill kisses like a fountain / Lucky that my breasts are small and humble / So you don't confuse 'em with mountains2001 August 30, Shakira, “Whenever, Wherever”, in Laundry Service:
  • A humble is a cheap, inconsequential arrest that nonetheless gives the guy a night or two in jail before he sees a court commissioner.2015 April 29, “David Simon on Baltimore’s Anguish”, in The Marshall Project:

All 40 example sentences with humble

Synonyms of humble

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of humble

Forms of humble

Adjective
comparativehumbler
comparativemore humble
superlativehumblest
superlativemost humble
Noun
pluralhumbles
Verb
third-person singular presenthumbles
present participlehumbling
past participlehumbled
pasthumbled
Proper noun
pluralHumbles

Past tense of humble: humbled

Origin of humble

From Middle English humble, from Old French humble, umble, humle, from Latin humilis (“low, slight, hence mean, humble”) (compare Greek χαμηλός (khamēlós, “on the ground, low, trifling”)), from humus (“the earth, ground”), humi (“on the ground”). See homage, and compare chameleon, humiliate. Displaced native Old English ēaþmōd.

From Middle English humblen (“to humble”), from the adjective above.

From Middle English *humblen, *humbelen (suggested by humblynge (“a humming, a faint rumbling”)), frequentative of Middle English hummen (“to hum”), equivalent to hum + -le.

Words formed from humble

Phrases with humble

Words that rhyme with humble

2 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about humble

What does humble mean?
Humble means not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming.
What is humble in Hindi?
Humble in Hindi is विनीत (vinīt), विनम्र (vinamra). See Humble meaning in Hindi.
How do you use humble in a sentence?
Roominess and unroominess in a human dwelling, even of the humblest kind, are important matters in their bearing upon man's character.
What part of speech is humble?
Humble can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce humble?
Humble is pronounced /ˈhʌmbəl/ (UK).

Words near humble in the dictionary

  1. Humberstone
  2. humberstonite
  3. Humbert
  4. humbird
  5. humbirds
  6. humble
  7. humble pie
  8. humble pies
  9. humble plant
  10. humble plants
  11. humble-bee

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: humble (page history and authors); Humble (page history and authors); humble (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); humble (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); humble (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); humble (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); humble (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); humble (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); humble (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); humble (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-humble.ogg, en-au-humble.ogg.

Cite this entry: “humble.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/humble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.