humbling
Americanadjective
-
causing a person to feel less proud, especially through awe, admiration, or gratitude.
This project has involved some exceptionally talented people and it’s been a humbling experience to work with them.
-
lowering a person’s status, power, dignity, confidence, etc..
The 26:2 vote in favor of their opponents was indeed a humbling defeat.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of humbling
First recorded in 1540–50; humbl(e) ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses; humbl(e) ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. ) for the noun sense
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.
“As a mother, it’s been humbling to watch the kind of young man he has become through adversity,” Janet said in a letter she wrote honoring her son.
From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2026
For a player of Koepka’s stature, it’s a humbling place to be, having reached the sport’s peak but now needing to start from the bottom on Tour.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 11, 2026
Jones described the elections as "humbling" for his party.
From BBC • May 8, 2026
Ford CEO Jim Farley has called the progress "the most humbling thing I've ever seen".
From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026
He’d also sold his idea for a nonfiction book about race and identity to a New York publisher, which for someone who worshipped books as he did felt like an enormous and humbling boon.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
