humiliating
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- humiliatingly adverb
- self-humiliating adjective
- unhumiliating adjective
- unhumiliatingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of humiliating
First recorded in 1750–60; humiliat(e) + -ing 2
Explanation
When something humiliating happens to you, it makes you feel embarrassed and ashamed. Your humiliating haircut might force you to wear a stocking cap to work. Something that humbles you and makes you feel foolish is humiliating: it's humiliating to sing your song for the school talent show in the wrong key, and it's even more humiliating when the audience laughs. Admitting defeat in a competition or battle is often described as humiliating, as are most kinds of public embarrassment. The noun humiliation came first, from the same root as humble, the Latin humilis, "lowly, humble," and literally, "on the ground."
Vocabulary lists containing humiliating
Fish in a Tree
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The Wednesday Wars
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Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
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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.
Instead, he delivers his hair-raising message—that we’re staring at “a humiliating and bloody defeat” if we go to war with China—in a jaunty, clever and sometimes breathless book.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Lehmann, now in his second year at Wantage Road, is hopeful the ECB will have a better link with the first class counties this season following the humiliating Ashes series defeat this winter.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026
Viewers accused the show of cruelty and humiliating Tran by making her relive her trauma on live television.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026
And now, without a single league win since last December, they are facing a humiliating emergency.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026
To be forced to the surface would be humiliating.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
