modesty
Americannoun
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the quality of being modest; freedom from vanity, boastfulness, etc.
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regard for decency of behavior, speech, dress, etc.
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simplicity; moderation.
noun
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the quality or condition of being modest
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(modifier) designed to prevent inadvertent exposure of part of the body
a modesty flap
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of modesty
From the Latin word modestia, dating back to 1525–35. See modest, -y 3
Explanation
Modesty is that shy feeling you get when someone brags about how great you are, or when you need to take off your shirt to go swimming and showing skin makes you squirm. If you blush, you’ve got some modesty. Modesty comes from the Latin modestus, which literally translates as “keeping due measure.” Knowing the correct measure of yourself is modesty, and when someone praises you too much, your modesty might kick in and make you want to tell them to be quiet. Modesty also means you keep things decent and not too outrageous, like wearing clothes that hide your skin, or painting your walls beige instead of covering them with glow-in-the-dark diamond wallpaper.
Vocabulary lists containing modesty
"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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Beloved
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Purple Hibiscus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Eschewing any pretense of modesty, he says the Kennedy decision was a dead letter.
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
But it appears there’s another reason for New Yorkers to like the basketball star known for his clutch play and modesty: He’s an astute analyst of comparative state tax rates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
Women now refuse to turn the clock back even though strict rules on "modesty" and severe punishments are still the law of this land.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
The ease and modesty present in “Marc by Sofia” sometimes seem perplexing.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2026
He was unforgivably a foreigner then, foreign to them, foreign to me, foreign to everyone but Mama, who sat next to him smiling with pleased modesty.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
To make one costume seem like many, women are buying in vast quantities dickies, jabots, fichus, gilets, ruches, berthas, bibs, piccadillies, collets, modesties and ruffs.
From Time Magazine Archive
And this attraction affected her morally, producing in her modesties, reticencies of speech, even of thought, and prickings of unflattering self-criticism unknown to her heretofore.
From The History of Sir Richard Calmady A Romance by Malet, Lucas
There are modesties in religion as in morals,—inner shrines to be defended at any and all costs.
From The Quickening by Ashe, E. M.
Secondly," pursued the Vicar with firmness, "this War is so great a business that, to my mind, it just swallows up—effaces—all scruples and modesties and mock-modesties about precedence and the like.
From Nicky-Nan, Reservist by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
I hope they cannot blame us, we have usd them With that respect our modesties allowd.
From A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 2 by Bullen, A. H. (Arthur Henry)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
