Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use humble in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Humble means not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming. Example: “He lives in a humble one-bedroom cottage.”

Examples of humble by meaning

adjectiveNot pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming.

  • He lives in a humble one-bedroom cottage.
  • 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

nounAn 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.2004 October 17, Ed Burns, “Straight and True”, in The Wire, season 3, episode 5 (television production), spoken by Howard "Bunny" Colvin...
  • 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
  • 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

verbTo make humble or lowly; to make less proud or arrogant; to make meek and submissive.

  • 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

verbTo hum.

  • humbling and bumbling

More sentences with humble

  • The man was exalted from a humble carpenter to a minister.From the entry exalt
  • She is quite the humble servant, the poor in this city owe much to her but she expects nothing.From the entry servant
  • Am I humble or am I a lush?From the entry lush
  • It was hard to respect his opinion after he'd called their humble but respectable town "a godforsaken boondock."From the entry boondock
  • Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.From the entry there's no place like home
  • Rising from humble farmhand to community organizer to a leader of the national Fatah party, Mr.2024 April 1, Taylor Luck, Fatima AbdulKarim, “Palestinian Mandela? Marwan Barghouti, imprisoned preacher of unity.”, in The Christian…. From the entry oratory
  • Mistress Desiree removed the ball crusher and then selected the humbler.2023, Sandra Wild, Lustful Whispers: Forbidden Passions Ignite. From the entry humbler
  • Then with godly sorrow they remorse with a humble heart, and they repent.2020, Donald Werner, The Mark of the Beast or the Seal of Yahoveh God?, page 7. From the entry remorse
  • Starting pay for the humblest burger-flipper at McDonald’s in Denmark is about $22 an hour.2020 May 15, Nicholas D[onabet] Kristof, “Actually, nothing rotten in state of Denmark”, in The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa., page A11…. From the entry burger-flipper
  • The best way to deal with R-bombing, in our humble opinion, is to remain chill.2018 May 26, Ellen Scott, “R-bombing is the new dating term you've likely already put up with”, in Metro, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC…. From the entry r-bombing
  • Edhi lived in a humble, ascetic way, even as his charity became a multimillion-pound enterprise.2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 12 Apr…. From the entry multimillion
  • A welcome, if humble, addition to Kampala's edible offerings is the 'rolex'.2016, Philip Briggs, Uganda. From the entry rolex
  • "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. From the entry humbled
  • In its pure form, this ideal embraced the virtues of a productive, humble, and obedient adulthood.2015, Dr. Bill Thomas, William H. Thomas, Second Wind, page 51. From the entry Orthogonian
  • Strangely instead, it’s the humble garbage-collector on the receiving end of the vitriol.2011 April 9, Ken Lewenza, “Counterpoint: Fury of poor would erupt without unions”, in National Post, volume 13, number 138, Toronto…. From the entry garbage-collector
  • 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. From the entry humbled
  • World War I shattered the gossima delusions of the aristocracy, and the Great Depression humbled the rest.2010, Roger Bennett, Eli Horowitz, Everything You Know Is Pong, Harper Collins, →ISBN, page 4. From the entry gossima
  • Forget fine dining: even fairly foul dining courtesy of the humble takeaway will seem extravagant.2009 January 5, Jasper Gerard, “Eating out in 2009: the highs and the lows”, in The Telegraph. From the entry fakeaway
  • Far from mainstream, but skweee definitely has outgrown its humble, stoned beginnings.2009, SPIN, volume 25, number 4, page 30. From the entry skweee
  • The anger of humble and saintly people is a line drawn on water.2009, Prof. Shrikant Prasoon, Indian saints and sages. From the entry line drawn on water
  • The humble sparrow counts just as much as a Wedge-tailed Eagle or a Paradise Parrot.2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 41. From the entry tick
  • Back then, at eighteen, in her humble bed-sit, in Dublin's 'flatland', she was lonely.2005, Esme Conway, Into Angels, page 18. From the entry flatland
  • He's smart, relaxed and impossibly telegenic, with a knack for coming across as humble and sincere.2003 January 19, Abi Daruvalla, “Not Just a Pretty Face”, in Time, retrieved 02 May 2014. From the entry not just a pretty face
  • But there were, of course, innumerable instances of strongheartedness among the humblest of Rebs.2002, Michael Barton, Larry M. Logue, The Civil War Soldier: A Historical Reader, →ISBN, page 302. From the entry strongheartedness
  • Now in the opinion of this humble organ (woohoo!), one of these statements isn’t true.1996 February, “Good old ‘The Internet’, it’s certainly the best”, in Amiga Action, number 79, IDG Media, page 36. From the entry tremendosity
  • With Connie, he’s blissfully free from erotic expectation; he’s humbled by Ellen’s goodness.1993 April 30, Peter Rainer, “MOVIE REVIEW : A Sugarcoated ‘Three of Hearts’”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles…. From the entry sweetie-pie
  • We are humble functionaries whose duty it is to implement the commands of our democratically elected representatives.1987 December 10, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “Official Secrets (Yes, Prime Minister)”, in Yes, Prime Minister, season 2, episode 2, spoken…. From the entry functionary
  • Now with the same diffidence he came, looking trim and loving and mysteriously humble.1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy. From the entry unwonted
  • "I've long admired men who have risen from humble beginnings," Mulholland says, and then dead-pans: "Dr.1983, Rod McQueen, The Money-spinners. From the entry dead-pan
  • But in fact the humble ant is merely trying to circumvert the beach's obstacles and go home.1973, Progress in Vision and Robotics. From the entry circumvert
  • No, I'm a fart in a gale of wind, a humble violet under a cow pad.1937, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, page 97. From the entry fart in the wind
  • Who that has prided himself on his spiritual strength has not seen it humbled to the dust?1927-1929, Mahatma Gandhi, chapter XXI, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth, published 1940. From the entry chaff
  • Surely the Gods have made him fey, having ordained his destruction and our humbling before these Demons.1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, chapter 18, in The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC. From the entry fey

Meaning of humble

  1. adjective Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming.
  2. adjective Having a low position or a low opinion of oneself; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; modest.
  3. noun People with a low position or a low opinion of themselves; those who are not proud, arrogant, or assuming.

Full definition of humble

Questions about humble in a sentence

How do you use humble in a sentence?
Humble is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “He lives in a humble one-bedroom cottage.”
What is a short sentence with humble?
“humbling and bumbling”
What does humble mean?
Humble means not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: humble (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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