modesty

UK/ˈmɒd.ə.sti/US/ˈmɒd.ə.sti/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,316 of 15,258neutral

Modesty is a quiet unwillingness to boast about yourself. False modesty, becoming modesty, with characteristic modesty.

False modesty is the interesting variety — refusing praise so as to be pressed into accepting it — and everybody recognises it. The word also means modest dress or behaviour, and a modesty panel is a board on the front of a desk.

Definitions of modesty

1nounmodestyA quiet unwillingness to boast about yourself.B2+
“Despite winning the prize, she spoke with great modesty and thanked her whole team.”

modesty is a quality of character.

Where it comes from

Latin modestia comes from modestus, keeping within measure, from modus, a measure. Moderate is a relative.

Latin
modestia
Middle French
modestie
English, today
modesty

Middle French modestie, from Latin modestia; equivalent to modest + -y.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

modesty in the wild

The word modesty comes from the Latin word modestus which means 'keeping within measure'.
Modesty
In some countries, exposure of the body in breach of community standards of modesty is also considered to be public indecency.
Indecent exposure
Covering the hair is part of the modesty-related dress standard called tzniut.
Head covering for Jewish women
Modesty guards or modesty patrols either request or force citizens, mostly women, to dress modestly, depending on the country and the location.
Modesty guard
The definition of modesty is different in each location.
Modesty guard

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

modest

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