Word.ws English Dictionary

self-effacing

self-effacing adjective: shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable.

Adjective

self-effacing (comparative more self-effacing, superlative most self-effacing)

  1. Shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable.
    • Clark Kent's self-effacing behavior is to purposefully make people ignore him.
    • […] When asked about this, Muldoon's self-effacing response is: “I don't think so!”2001 May 12, Robert Potts, quoting Paul Muldoon, “The poet at play”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2021

self-effacing meaning in Tamil

self-effacing in Tamil

தன்முனைப்பறவான, தற்பின்னிடைவான, தன்னொதுக்கமான

Examples of self-effacing in a sentence

  • His personality was also extremely endearing, his interviews were very self-effacing (and), he came over as gentle and was generous in his praise of others.2007 January 3, Ian Gillan, “DEEP PURPLE Frontman: ELVIS PRESLEY 'Was The Greatest Singer That Ever Lived'”, in blabbermouth.net, archived...
  • I'm sorry if I seem self-effacing / Consumed by selfish thoughts / It's only that I still love you deeply / It's all the love I got2010, “Age of Adz”, in The Age of Adz, performed by Sufjan Stevens:

Forms of self-effacing

comparativemore self-effacing
superlativemost self-effacing

Origin of self-effacing

From self- + effacing.

Words formed from self-effacing

Questions about self-effacing

What does self-effacing mean?
Self-effacing means shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable.
What is self-effacing in Tamil?
Self-effacing in Tamil is தன்முனைப்பறவான, தற்பின்னிடைவான, தன்னொதுக்கமான. See Self-effacing meaning in Tamil.
How do you use self-effacing in a sentence?
His personality was also extremely endearing, his interviews were very self-effacing (and), he came over as gentle and was generous in his praise of others.
What part of speech is self-effacing?
Self-effacing is an adjective.

Words near self-effacing in the dictionary

  1. self-educating
  2. self-education
  3. self-educations
  4. self-effacement
  5. self-effacements
  6. self-effacing
  7. self-effacingly
  8. self-effacingness
  9. self-efficacies
  10. self-efficacy
  11. self-elect

Source and license

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