"self-effacing" meaning in English

See self-effacing in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more self-effacing [comparative], most self-effacing [superlative]
Etymology: self- + effacing Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|self|effacing}} self- + effacing Head templates: {{en-adj}} self-effacing (comparative more self-effacing, superlative most self-effacing)
  1. Shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable. Categories (topical): Personality Translations (extremely humble and modest): vaatimaton (Finnish), nöyrä (Finnish), huomaamaton (Finnish), bescheiden (German), zurückhaltend (German), still (German), schüchtern (German), sanftmütig (German), sanft (German), zaghaft (German), demütig (German), timido (Italian), introverso (Italian), schivo (Italian), pavido (Italian), whakapāpaku (Maori), whakamōwai (Maori), hūnguengue (Maori), tāharahara (Maori), självutplånande (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-self-effacing-en-adj-xvC6LoM1 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms prefixed with self-

Download JSON data for self-effacing meaning in English (4.0kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "self",
        "3": "effacing"
      },
      "expansion": "self- + effacing",
      "name": "prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "self- + effacing",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more self-effacing",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most self-effacing",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "self-effacing (comparative more self-effacing, superlative most self-effacing)",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Personality",
          "orig": "en:Personality",
          "parents": [
            "Mind",
            "Human",
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            "Fundamental"
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          "source": "w"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Clark Kent's self-effacing behavior is to purposefully make people ignore him.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 January 3, Ian Gillan, “DEEP PURPLE Frontman: ELVIS PRESLEY 'Was The Greatest Singer That Ever Lived'”, in blabbermouth.net",
          "text": "His personality was also extremely endearing, his interviews were very self-effacing (and), he came over as gentle and was generous in his praise of others.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001 May 12, Robert Potts, quoting Paul Muldoon, “The poet at play”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
          "text": "[…] When asked about this, Muldoon's self-effacing response is: “I don't think so!”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, “Age of Adz”, in The Age of Adz, performed by Sufjan Stevens",
          "text": "I'm sorry if I seem self-effacing / Consumed by selfish thoughts / It's only that I still love you deeply / It's all the love I got",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable."
      ],
      "id": "en-self-effacing-en-adj-xvC6LoM1",
      "links": [
        [
          "Shy",
          "shy"
        ],
        [
          "humble",
          "humble"
        ],
        [
          "modest",
          "modest"
        ],
        [
          "unnoticeable",
          "unnoticeable"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "vaatimaton"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "nöyrä"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "huomaamaton"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "bescheiden"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "zurückhaltend"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "still"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "schüchtern"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "sanftmütig"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "sanft"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "zaghaft"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "demütig"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "timido"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "introverso"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "schivo"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "pavido"
        },
        {
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "whakapāpaku"
        },
        {
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "whakamōwai"
        },
        {
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "hūnguengue"
        },
        {
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "tāharahara"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
          "word": "självutplånande"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "self-effacing"
}
{
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      "expansion": "self- + effacing",
      "name": "prefix"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "self- + effacing",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more self-effacing",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most self-effacing",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
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      "examples": [
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          "text": "Clark Kent's self-effacing behavior is to purposefully make people ignore him.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 January 3, Ian Gillan, “DEEP PURPLE Frontman: ELVIS PRESLEY 'Was The Greatest Singer That Ever Lived'”, in blabbermouth.net",
          "text": "His personality was also extremely endearing, his interviews were very self-effacing (and), he came over as gentle and was generous in his praise of others.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001 May 12, Robert Potts, quoting Paul Muldoon, “The poet at play”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
          "text": "[…] When asked about this, Muldoon's self-effacing response is: “I don't think so!”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, “Age of Adz”, in The Age of Adz, performed by Sufjan Stevens",
          "text": "I'm sorry if I seem self-effacing / Consumed by selfish thoughts / It's only that I still love you deeply / It's all the love I got",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Shy",
          "shy"
        ],
        [
          "humble",
          "humble"
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          "modest"
        ],
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          "unnoticeable",
          "unnoticeable"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "vaatimaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "nöyrä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "huomaamaton"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "bescheiden"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "zurückhaltend"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "still"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "schüchtern"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "sanftmütig"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "sanft"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "zaghaft"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "demütig"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "timido"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "introverso"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "schivo"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "pavido"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "whakapāpaku"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "whakamōwai"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "hūnguengue"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "tāharahara"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "extremely humble and modest",
      "word": "självutplånande"
    }
  ],
  "word": "self-effacing"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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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