meek
[meek]
- humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others.
- overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame.
- Obsolete. gentle; kind.
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Origin of meek
1150–1200; Middle English meke, meoc < Old Norse mjūkr soft, mild, meek
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for meekness
Contemporary Examples
Meekness is less than ever an attractive quality in American life.
Historical Examples
Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
An Explanation of Luther's Small CatechismJoseph Stump
Though not a revengeful character, he had not that meekness which never resents.
Night and Morning, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
She speaks gently, but there is an obstinacy in him, despite his meekness.
Echoes of the WarJ. M. Barrie
His anger changed to meekness, and his words were mild and fawning.
Life And Adventures Of Martin ChuzzlewitCharles Dickens
Can he compass his spirit with meekness, and strangle a natural oath?
Farm BalladsWill Carleton
meek
- patient, long-suffering, or submissive in disposition or nature; humble
- spineless or spiritless; compliant
- an obsolete word for gentle
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Word Origin
C12: related to Old Norse mjūkr amenable; compare Welsh mwytho to soften
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for meekness
meek
adj.
c.1200, "gentle, quiet, unaggressive; benevolent, kind; courteous, humble, unassuming;" of a woman, "modest," from a Scandinavian source (cf. Old Norse mjukr "soft, pliant, gentle"), from Proto-Germanic *meukaz (cf. Gothic muka-modei "humility," Dutch muik "soft"), of uncertain origin, perhaps from PIE *meug- "slippery, slimy." In the Bible, it translates Latin mansuetus from Vulgate (see mansuetude). Sense of "submissive" is from mid-14c.
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meek
n.
"those who are meek," c.1200, from meek (adj.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper