"modestly" meaning in English

See modestly in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adverb

Forms: more modestly [comparative], most modestly [superlative]
Etymology: From modest + -ly. Etymology templates: {{suffix|en|modest|-ly|id2=adverbial}} modest + -ly Head templates: {{en-adv}} modestly (comparative more modestly, superlative most modestly)
  1. In a modest manner; with humility. Translations (in a modest manner): համեստորեն (hamestoren) (Armenian), modestament (Catalan), 謙虛地 /谦虚地 (qiānxū de) (Chinese Mandarin), 審慎地 /审慎地 (shěnshèn de) (Chinese Mandarin), 謙恭地 /谦恭地 (qiāngōng de) (Chinese Mandarin), 簡樸地 /简朴地 (jiǎnpǔ de) (Chinese Mandarin), 端莊地 /端庄地 (duānzhuāng de) (Chinese Mandarin), 適度地 /适度地 (shìdù de) (Chinese Mandarin), bescheiden (Dutch), modeste (Esperanto), vaatimattomasti (Finnish), modestement (French), modestamente (Galician), सविनय (savinay) (Hindi), szerényen (Hungarian), með kurt og pí (Icelandic), modestamente (Italian), modestē (Latin), скромно (skromno) (Macedonian), എളിമയോടെ (eḷimayōṭe) (Malayalam), modestamente (Portuguese), скро́мно (skrómno) (Russian), modestamente (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-modestly-en-adv-XWEoymUI Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -ly (adverbial), Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Armenian translations, Terms with Catalan translations, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Esperanto translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Galician translations, Terms with Hindi translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Icelandic translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Latin translations, Terms with Macedonian translations, Terms with Malayalam translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 50 50 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ly (adverbial): 53 47 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 51 49 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 50 50 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 49 51 Disambiguation of Terms with Armenian translations: 46 54 Disambiguation of Terms with Catalan translations: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Esperanto translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Galician translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Hindi translations: 53 47 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Icelandic translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with Latin translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Macedonian translations: 47 53 Disambiguation of Terms with Malayalam translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 45 55 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 50 50 Synonyms: chastely, humbly, meekly, becomingly, chastely, continently, correctly, decently, decorously, deservingly, dutifully, duteously, meritoriously, modestly, morally, nobly, rightly, right-mindedly, righteously, virtuously, worthily Disambiguation of 'in a modest manner': 97 3
  2. To a small degree.
    Sense id: en-modestly-en-adv-rM2TwyKF Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -ly (adverbial), Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Armenian translations, Terms with Catalan translations, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Esperanto translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Galician translations, Terms with Hindi translations, Terms with Hungarian translations, Terms with Icelandic translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Latin translations, Terms with Macedonian translations, Terms with Malayalam translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 50 50 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ly (adverbial): 53 47 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 51 49 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 50 50 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 49 51 Disambiguation of Terms with Armenian translations: 46 54 Disambiguation of Terms with Catalan translations: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Esperanto translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Galician translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Hindi translations: 53 47 Disambiguation of Terms with Hungarian translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Icelandic translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with Latin translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Macedonian translations: 47 53 Disambiguation of Terms with Malayalam translations: 55 45 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 45 55 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 50 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 50 50 Synonyms: mildly, slightly, somewhat, a bit, a little, a little bit, a mite, a smidgen, a smidgeon, a tad, a touch, a trifle, barely, closely, faintly, hardly, imperceptibly, just, marginally, mildly, modestly, nearly, only just, scarcely, slightly, somewhat
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        {
          "word": "chastely"
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          "word": "humbly"
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          "word": "meekly"
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        {
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          "word": "chastely"
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          "word": "continently"
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          "sense": "in a modest manner",
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          "word": "審慎地 /审慎地"
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          "roman": "qiāngōng de",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "謙恭地 /谦恭地"
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          "roman": "jiǎnpǔ de",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
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          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
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          "roman": "duānzhuāng de",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "端莊地 /端庄地"
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          "code": "cmn",
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          "roman": "shìdù de",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "適度地 /适度地"
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          "sense": "in a modest manner",
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          "code": "hi",
          "lang": "Hindi",
          "lang_code": "hi",
          "roman": "savinay",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "सविनय"
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          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "hu",
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          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "szerényen"
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          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "lang_code": "is",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "með kurt og pí"
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          "code": "it",
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          "lang_code": "it",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
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          "lang": "Latin",
          "lang_code": "la",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "modestē"
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          "code": "mk",
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          "lang_code": "mk",
          "roman": "skromno",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "скромно"
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          "code": "ml",
          "lang": "Malayalam",
          "lang_code": "ml",
          "roman": "eḷimayōṭe",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "എളിമയോടെ"
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          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "lang_code": "pt",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "modestamente"
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          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "skrómno",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "скро́мно"
        },
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          "code": "es",
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          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "in a modest manner",
          "word": "modestamente"
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        {
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        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "faintly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "hardly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "imperceptibly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "just"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "marginally"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "mildly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "modestly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "nearly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "only just"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "scarcely"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "slightly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "somewhat"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "modestly"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adverbs",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms suffixed with -ly (adverbial)",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Armenian translations",
    "Terms with Catalan translations",
    "Terms with Dutch translations",
    "Terms with Esperanto translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Galician translations",
    "Terms with Hindi translations",
    "Terms with Hungarian translations",
    "Terms with Icelandic translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Latin translations",
    "Terms with Macedonian translations",
    "Terms with Malayalam translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "modest",
        "3": "-ly",
        "id2": "adverbial"
      },
      "expansion": "modest + -ly",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From modest + -ly.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more modestly",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most modestly",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "modestly (comparative more modestly, superlative most modestly)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              14,
              22
            ]
          ],
          "text": "The man bowed modestly and left the dinner table.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              54,
              62
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 July 28, John Crace, “Sidekick Starmer can’t get a word in as The Donald dominates world’s most one-sided double act”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 Jul 2025:",
          "text": "An hour later, Trump and Starmer were gathered in the modestly named Donald J Trump Ballroom for the press conference proper.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a modest manner; with humility."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "modest",
          "modest"
        ],
        [
          "humility",
          "humility"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "chastely"
        },
        {
          "word": "humbly"
        },
        {
          "word": "meekly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "becomingly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "chastely"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "continently"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "correctly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "decently"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "decorously"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "deservingly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "dutifully"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "duteously"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "meritoriously"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "modestly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "morally"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "nobly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "rightly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "right-mindedly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "righteously"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "virtuously"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:virtuously",
          "word": "worthily"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              34,
              42
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Harry L. Shipman, Space 2000: Meeting the Challenge of a New Era, page 55:",
          "text": "These new shuttlelike craft might modestly reduce the cost of getting to low earth orbit.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              56,
              64
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 November 30, Christine Fernando, “Emboldened ‘manosphere’ accelerates threats and demeaning language toward women after US election”, in Associated Press, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2024:",
          "text": "One of several factors to his success this election was modestly boosting his support among men, a shift concentrated among younger voters, according to AP VoteCast, survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To a small degree."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "mildly"
        },
        {
          "word": "slightly"
        },
        {
          "word": "somewhat"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "a bit"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "a little"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "a little bit"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "a mite"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "a smidgen"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "a smidgeon"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "a tad"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "a touch"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "a trifle"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "barely"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "closely"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "faintly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "hardly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "imperceptibly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "just"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "marginally"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "mildly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "modestly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "nearly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "only just"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "scarcely"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "slightly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:slightly",
          "word": "somewhat"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hy",
      "lang": "Armenian",
      "lang_code": "hy",
      "roman": "hamestoren",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "համեստորեն"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "lang_code": "ca",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "modestament"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "qiānxū de",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "謙虛地 /谦虚地"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "shěnshèn de",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "審慎地 /审慎地"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "qiāngōng de",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "謙恭地 /谦恭地"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "jiǎnpǔ de",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "簡樸地 /简朴地"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "duānzhuāng de",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "端莊地 /端庄地"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "shìdù de",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "適度地 /适度地"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "lang_code": "nl",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "bescheiden"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "lang_code": "eo",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "modeste"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "vaatimattomasti"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "modestement"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "lang_code": "gl",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "modestamente"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "lang_code": "hi",
      "roman": "savinay",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "सविनय"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "szerényen"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "lang_code": "is",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "með kurt og pí"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "modestamente"
    },
    {
      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "lang_code": "la",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "modestē"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "lang_code": "mk",
      "roman": "skromno",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "скромно"
    },
    {
      "code": "ml",
      "lang": "Malayalam",
      "lang_code": "ml",
      "roman": "eḷimayōṭe",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "എളിമയോടെ"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "modestamente"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "skrómno",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "скро́мно"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "in a modest manner",
      "word": "modestamente"
    }
  ],
  "word": "modestly"
}

Download raw JSONL data for modestly meaning in English (8.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-19 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.