humble
modest, simple
TRANSLATION
humble = bescheiden, einfach, demütig (woerterbuch.info) --- GOOGLE INDEX humble: approximately 3,000,000 hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Australian Prime Minister John Howard says he is HUMBLED as he claims victory in the country's federal election.
(BBC News)
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Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so HUMBLE, there's no place like home.
- John Howard Payne, American actor, playwright and songwriter
(BBC News)
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Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so HUMBLE, there's no place like home.
- John Howard Payne, American actor, playwright and songwriter
Did you
know?
humble
adjective
- not proud or not believing that you are important (He's very humble about his success)
- poor or of a low social rank (Even when she became rich and famous, she never forgot her humble background)
- ordinary; not special or very important (At that time she was just a humble mechanic)
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
From the Old French humble, earlier humele, from the Latin humilis "lowly, humble, insignificant", literally "on the ground," from humus "earth."
Although one might not think that many stars, celebrities and people in important positions are necessarily modest and shy, the fact is that many of these people can claim humble beginnings. Abraham Lincoln grew up poor in a one-room house yet became one of America's most distinguished presidents. The Greek shipping tycoon and billionaire Aristotle Onassis once worked as a dishwasher in a Buenos Aires restaurant. Elvis Presley drove a truck before going on to fame as the King of Rock and Roll. And mega-author Stephen King was supposedly inspired to write the novel "Carrie" from his job as a janitor cleaning the girl's locker room in a high school.
Other people, whilst growing up in less than humble environments, still value humility as a virtue. In 1941, Winston Churchill summoned Sergeant James Allen Ward to 10 Downing Street to award him a Victoria Cross for climbing onto the wing of his Wellington bomber to extinguish a fire in the starboard engine, a task he performed while flying 13,000 feet above the Zuider Zee, secured only by a rope around his waist.
Sergeant Ward was speechless in the prime minister's presence and found himself unable to answer his questions. Churchill surveyed the man with an understanding look and said, "You must feel very humble in my presence."
"Yes, sir," replied Ward.
"Then you can imagine," Churchill declared, "how humble I feel in yours."
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SYNONYMS
bashful, deferential, demure, diffident, docile, gentle, hesitant, lowly, meek, mild, modest, obliging, obsequious, ordinary, polite, quiet, reserved, respectful, retiring, reverential, self-conscious, self-effacing, servile, sheepish, shy, simple, soft-spoken, submissive, subservient, supplicate, tentative, timid, timorous, tractable, unambitious, unobtrusive, unostentatious, unpretentious, withdrawn
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
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ANTONYMS
arrogant, overbearing, cocky, egotistic, haughty, high-and-mighty, proud, snotty, uppity
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Although the company is very successful, it is proud of its humble origins."
adjective
- not proud or not believing that you are important (He's very humble about his success)
- poor or of a low social rank (Even when she became rich and famous, she never forgot her humble background)
- ordinary; not special or very important (At that time she was just a humble mechanic)
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
From the Old French humble, earlier humele, from the Latin humilis "lowly, humble, insignificant", literally "on the ground," from humus "earth."
Although one might not think that many stars, celebrities and people in important positions are necessarily modest and shy, the fact is that many of these people can claim humble beginnings. Abraham Lincoln grew up poor in a one-room house yet became one of America's most distinguished presidents. The Greek shipping tycoon and billionaire Aristotle Onassis once worked as a dishwasher in a Buenos Aires restaurant. Elvis Presley drove a truck before going on to fame as the King of Rock and Roll. And mega-author Stephen King was supposedly inspired to write the novel "Carrie" from his job as a janitor cleaning the girl's locker room in a high school.
Other people, whilst growing up in less than humble environments, still value humility as a virtue. In 1941, Winston Churchill summoned Sergeant James Allen Ward to 10 Downing Street to award him a Victoria Cross for climbing onto the wing of his Wellington bomber to extinguish a fire in the starboard engine, a task he performed while flying 13,000 feet above the Zuider Zee, secured only by a rope around his waist.
Sergeant Ward was speechless in the prime minister's presence and found himself unable to answer his questions. Churchill surveyed the man with an understanding look and said, "You must feel very humble in my presence."
"Yes, sir," replied Ward.
"Then you can imagine," Churchill declared, "how humble I feel in yours."
---
SYNONYMS
bashful, deferential, demure, diffident, docile, gentle, hesitant, lowly, meek, mild, modest, obliging, obsequious, ordinary, polite, quiet, reserved, respectful, retiring, reverential, self-conscious, self-effacing, servile, sheepish, shy, simple, soft-spoken, submissive, subservient, supplicate, tentative, timid, timorous, tractable, unambitious, unobtrusive, unostentatious, unpretentious, withdrawn
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
---
ANTONYMS
arrogant, overbearing, cocky, egotistic, haughty, high-and-mighty, proud, snotty, uppity
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Although the company is very successful, it is proud of its humble origins."
