Word.ws English Dictionary

lowliest

lowliest is the superlative form of lowly.

Meaning of lowly

Adjective

lowly (comparative lowlier, superlative lowliest)

  1. Not high; not elevated in place; low.
    • And those whom Tiber's holy forests hide,
      Or Circe's hills from the main land divide;
      Where Ufens glides along the lowly lands,
      Or the black water of Pomptina stands.1697, John Dryden, translating Virgil, Aeneid^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Aeneid_(Dryden))
    Synonyms:
    nether, nonhigh, unhigh
  2. Low in rank or social importance.
    • One common right the great and lowly claims.1725, Alexander Pope, translating Homer, Odyssey^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Odyssey_(Pope)/Book_VIII)
    Synonyms:
    common, ignoble, plebeian
  3. Not lofty or sublime; humble.
    • Where our apt used to be they built a fancy condominium high-rise.
      Which at a lowly income none of us could ever really quite afford.2010, David Dondero, Just a Baby in Your Momma's Eyes
  4. Having a low esteem of one's own worth; humble; meek; free from pride.
    • Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew xi:29

See all 7 meanings of lowly

Questions about lowliest

What is lowliest the superlative form of?
Lowliest is the superlative form of lowly.

Words near lowliest in the dictionary

  1. lowlanders
  2. lowlands
  3. lowlands hump-nosed pit viper
  4. lowlands hump-nosed pit vipers
  5. lowlier
  6. lowliest
  7. lowlife
  8. lowlifer
  9. lowlifers
  10. lowlifes
  11. lowlight

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lowliest (page history and authors); lowly (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: “lowliest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lowliest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.