self-effacing
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Someone who's self-effacing is shy and likes to stay out of the spotlight, shunning attention and praise. To efface something is to erase it, so to be self-effacing is to try to remove yourself from various situations, especially ones that draw attention. If someone says you did a great job and you say, "It was nothing," that's self-effacing. It is usually considered a positive quality, since it's the opposite of being cocky, egotistical, and attention-hogging. The root of effacing is the Old French word esfacier, which means "to wipe out or destroy," literally "to remove the face."
Vocabulary lists containing self-effacing
Flowers for Algernon
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"Curtis Aikens and the American Dream" and "Go For It!"
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All My Sons
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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.
He liked comic books, Pop art, collage, landscape, the miniature worlds of Joseph Cornell boxes: virtually anything modest and surprising, even self-effacing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
The midfielder is the one that painfully got away from Newcastle United but is still revered and respected in his home city as the "quiet and self-effacing" local boy made good.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
In the pilot, she is insecure and self-effacing; when a car almost runs her over, she apologizes to the driver.
From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2025
He has a wide smile and an easygoing, self-effacing way about him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
Robert is self-effacing; still, he’s a self-confident person.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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.
