humiliate
Americanverb (used with object)
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humiliates,
present (3rd person singular)
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humiliated,
past participle, past
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humiliating
present participle
verb
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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humiliationnoun
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humiliatornoun
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rehumiliateverb (used with object)
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humiliatedadjective
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humiliatingadjective
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humiliativeadjective
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humiliatoryadjective
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humiliatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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humiliatesimple
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humiliatessimple
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have humiliatedperfect
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has humiliatedperfect
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am humiliatingprogressive
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are humiliatingprogressive
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is humiliatingprogressive
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have been humiliatingperfect progressive
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has been humiliatingperfect progressive
Past
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humiliatedsimple
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had humiliatedperfect
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was humiliatingprogressive
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were humiliatingprogressive
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had been humiliatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of humiliate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Late Latin humiliātus (past participle of humiliāre “to humble”), equivalent to Latin humili(s) humble + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
Humiliate means to make someone feel ashamed or stupid, often publicly. It would humiliate all but the most self-assured person to realize that everyone else in the room has noticed their fly is down. For many, the experience of high school seems designed to humiliate teens––under the microscope of public scrutiny that is the high school community, every break up, every bad-hair day, every forgotten homework assignment humiliates kids in ways adults rarely understand.
Vocabulary lists containing humiliate
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"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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Words for the High School Graduate
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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:
And on the street, when you see people begging, when you hand money to them, do not humiliate them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
"They'd love to humiliate the Castros and get one of the original revolutionaries from 1959 behind bars. But the strategic value of that is questionable."
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
Well, everyone in show business has to humiliate themselves sometimes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
"By insisting on retraction China is trying to humiliate her and turning up the heat on the controversy," Kingston said.
From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026
Rather than humiliate myself, I copped to it.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
Critics say Philips doesn't just challenge those beliefs - he humiliates the people who hold them.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
Earlier in the film, Patrick also publicly humiliates himself for Kat by singing Frankie Valli's song, "Can't Take My Eyes off You" in front of the whole school.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2024
The league says its operations manual strictly prohibits bullying and hazing, which is defined as behavior that “harms, intimidates, offends, degrades, threatens, or humiliates another person or creates a risk to their health or safety.”
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
“It really humiliates the nay-sayers, who think it’s somehow OK for some people to get healthcare and others not,” Kidder said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2022
But a cramp, he thought of it as a calambre, humiliates oneself especially when one is alone.
From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway
Niederhoffer was devastated and humiliated, but he kept looking for patterns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
A man with osteoarthritis and learning difficulties has said he feels "humiliated" after being told he cannot take his new mobility scooter on Translink's train services because it has been deemed to be too big.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
“An entire nation is being humiliated by Iranian leaders and the so-called revolutionary guards,” Merz said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
It also claims that OpenAI’s alleged misrepresentations about its tools have caused professionals to be publicly humiliated and minors to become addicted to a tool that “feigns human compassion.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026
It should have been an easy decision—don’t acknowledge the guy who attacked and humiliated me—but Marcus had been there when no one else had, and I couldn’t ignore him when he needed me.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
The first post called Holmes “a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession.”
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Before the humiliating collapse, Aschenbrenner’s fund had shown phenomenal returns of more than 1000% since its inception in 2024.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
"It was dehumanising, it was humiliating," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Morocco is to co-host the 2030 World Cup and Moroccan Football chief Fouzi Lekjaa is one of the few to have publicly supported Infantino since the humiliating climbdown.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
It was the most humiliating comparison of my life.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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.
