modesty
[mod-uh-stee]
- the quality of being modest; freedom from vanity, boastfulness, etc.
- regard for decency of behavior, speech, dress, etc.
- simplicity; moderation.
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Origin of modesty
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
simplicity, reticence, propriety, purity, decency, humility, virtue, diffidence, humbleness, demureness, timidity, quietness, self-effacement, constraint, delicacy, inhibition, meekness, chastity, innocence, celibacyExamples from the Web for modesty
Contemporary Examples
Mapei is soft-spoken, but that should not be mistaken for modesty.
The very limitations that we understand as modesty are erased by this process.
After Bates died, his successor at the RGS reflected, “I think his modesty was carried to a fault.”
Then again, my perception of modesty has been skewed ever since Katy Perry shot whip cream out of her bra, so who even knows.
Avril Lavigne’s Dumb ‘Hello Kitty’ Video Is Rife with Cultural AppropriationAmy Zimmerman
April 25, 2014
Valderrama's modest career is in direct contrast to his flagrant lack of modesty.
Historical Examples
All shall be imputed to that modesty which has ever so much distinguished you.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
There was a modesty in Bowser's tone that gave me a better opinion of him.
The UnderdogF. Hopkinson Smith
She was quite honest, and she served her father's customers with modesty.
The Hunted OutlawAnonymous
If you will force my modesty to the confession I believe in my heart that it is a sapphire.
The Incomplete AmoristE. Nesbit
She sobbed, and with a sudden feeling of modesty freed her wrists from his grasp.
The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteEmile Zola
modesty
- the quality or condition of being modest
- (modifier) designed to prevent inadvertent exposure of part of the bodya modesty flap
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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 modesty
n.
1530s, "freedom from exaggeration, self-control," from Middle French modestie or directly from Latin modestia "moderation, sense of honor, correctness of conduct," from modestus "moderate, keeping measure, sober, gentle, temperate," from modus "measure, manner" (see mode (n.1)). Meaning "quality of having a moderate opinion of oneself" is from 1550s; that of "womanly propriety" is from 1560s.
La pudeur donne des plaisirs bien flatteurs à l'amant: elle lui fait sentir quelles lois l'on transgresse pour lui; (Modesty both pleases and flatters a lover, for it lays stress on the laws which are being transgressed for his sake.) [Stendhal "de l'Amour," 1822]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper