Word.ws English Dictionary

humbled

humbled adjective: humiliated; weakened; made to be of a lower status. Also the simple past and past participle of humble.

Adjective

humbled (comparative more humbled, superlative most humbled)

  1. humiliated; weakened; made to be of a lower status
    • "Too oft my anxious eye has spied
      That secret grief thou fain wouldst hide,
      The passing pang of humbled pride;"1813, Sir Walter Scott, The Bridal Of Triermain
    • 1656 The Humbled Sinner Resolved what He Should Do to be Saved, title of book by Obadiah Sedgwick
  2. (proscribed) (usually qualifying a first-person pronoun) Grateful for the support of others, touched; honored, flattered.
    • JJ: Are you humbled by such positive reactions from such a wide spectrum of people, from George A Romero to Harry Knowles?
    • SP: Absolutely. Yeah, it's wonderful. ... We're very humbled and very pleased.2014 September 24, "Web Access... Simon Pegg / Edgar Wright" BBC Online
  3. Overcome with humility; in awe of the strength of another or one's own weakness
    • They would continue to suffer greatly but they have a strength that is remarkable. I am humbled by them and privileged to be with them.2010 February 1, Tom Hagan 'I am humbled by these people' National Catholic Reporter
    • The written word, he often argued, could only ever be a low-fidelity reproduction of the fullness of being; any text was ultimately humbled by the reality that it sought to represent.2019 November 12, Gal Koplewitz, “Amos Oz and the Politics of the Hebrew Language”, in The New Yorker

Also used as

humbled is also the simple past and past participle of humble.

Examples of humbled in a sentence

  • "I have, therefore, no resentment against the humbled House of Perevil—nay, I have regard to it in its depression."1823, Sir Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak:
  • We are humbled by the responsibility the American people have placed with us, but this is not a time for celebration.2014 November 4, John Boehner, Statement by Speaker Boehner On Outlook For The 114th Congress:
  • "Anytime I win an award of any kind I am honored and humbled," Espinoza said.2015 September 12, 'HONORED AND HUMBLED' ESPINOZA TO RECEIVE LAFFIT PINCAY, JR. AWARD Paulick Report

Forms of humbled

comparativemore humbled
superlativemost humbled

Words formed from humbled

Questions about humbled

What does humbled mean?
Humbled means humiliated; weakened; made to be of a lower status.
How do you use humbled in a sentence?
"I have, therefore, no resentment against the humbled House of Perevil—nay, I have regard to it in its depression."
What part of speech is humbled?
Humbled is an adjective.

Words near humbled in the dictionary

  1. humblebraggers
  2. humblebragging
  3. humblebraggings
  4. humblebraggy
  5. humblebrags
  6. humbled
  7. humbledst
  8. humblehearted
  9. humbleheartedness
  10. humblehood
  11. humbleness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: humbled (page history and authors). 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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Cite this entry: “humbled.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/humbled. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.