"false modesty" meaning in English

See false modesty in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-false modesty.wav Forms: false modesties [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} false modesty (countable and uncountable, plural false modesties)
  1. Behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering. Tags: countable, uncountable Categories (topical): Emotions Related terms: humblebrag Translations (behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering): falsa modèstia [feminine] (Catalan), teennäinen vaatimattomuus (Finnish), fausse modestie [feminine] (French), falsche Bescheidenheit [feminine] (German), álszerénység (Hungarian), falsa modestia [feminine] (Italian), fałszywa skromność [feminine] (Polish), falsa modéstia [feminine] (Portuguese)

Inflected forms

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    {
      "form": "false modesties",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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          "text": "Although having a large ego is considered undesirable, at times it is proper to take credit where it is due rather than display false modesty.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:",
          "text": "At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy ; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
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        "Behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering."
      ],
      "id": "en-false_modesty-en-noun-jf8V7~9V",
      "links": [
        [
          "Behavior",
          "behavior"
        ],
        [
          "humble",
          "humble"
        ],
        [
          "fake",
          "fake"
        ],
        [
          "unflattering",
          "unflattering"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "humblebrag"
        }
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      "tags": [
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        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "falsa modèstia"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
          "word": "teennäinen vaatimattomuus"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "fausse modestie"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "falsche Bescheidenheit"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
          "word": "álszerénység"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "falsa modestia"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "fałszywa skromność"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "falsa modéstia"
        }
      ]
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  "word": "false modesty"
}
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      "form": "false modesties",
      "tags": [
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  ],
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  "pos": "noun",
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          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:",
          "text": "At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy ; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.",
          "type": "quote"
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          "humble",
          "humble"
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          "fake"
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          "unflattering",
          "unflattering"
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    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "falsa modèstia"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
      "word": "teennäinen vaatimattomuus"
    },
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      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "fausse modestie"
    },
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      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "falsche Bescheidenheit"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
      "word": "álszerénység"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "falsa modestia"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "fałszywa skromność"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "behavior that is intended to seem humble but comes across as fake and unflattering",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "falsa modéstia"
    }
  ],
  "word": "false modesty"
}

Download raw JSONL data for false modesty meaning in English (3.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-21 using wiktextract (7c21d10 and f2e72e5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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