humbled
Americanadjective
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made less proud, especially by awe or admiration, or by gratitude for help received, an undeserved advantage or honor, etc..
The land is a perpetual gift; I am humbled like a stranger who is invited to dinner and fed the best food in the house.
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lowered in condition, power, or dignity; abased.
NATO air strikes and tightening sanctions finally brought the humbled aggressors to the negotiating table.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of humbled
Explanation
Someone who's humbled is made to feel less proud — they're chastened or deflated. A humbled sports star might be one who addresses the public after being punished for cheating. Your favorite basketball team is humbled if they lose badly to one of the worst teams in the league, and your schoolmate is humbled after bragging that he had straight As, only to get a miserable report card. In both cases, the humbled person or group has been brought down to earth, or taken down a peg. They're a little bit embarrassed and a little bit subdued. The Latin root is humilis, "lowly," and literally, "on the ground."
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.
“I’m really humbled by the way that women have grabbed onto it and seem to be making changes in their lives in response to it.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
I should know: I was humbled on two separate occasions by his sharp analysis.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
“The loyalty, the steadfast spirit, the character that they’ve chosen day in and day out. ... I am just so humbled that they’ve chosen to commit to our mission.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 5, 2026
The 89-year-old said she had been "truly humbled" by the letters she had received "from all around world" over the course of her 70-year career.
From BBC • Mar. 24, 2026
Yet he could not have been so humbled unless he had shared and accepted the vision that had crushed him, the common vision that bound us all together.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
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.
