self-effacement

[self-i-feys-muhnt, self-]

noun

1. the act or fact of keeping oneself in the background, as in humility.

self-effacement

noun

1. the act of making oneself, one's actions, etc, inconspicuous, esp because of humility or timidity

Other Word Forms

• self-effacing adjective
• self-effacingly adverb
• self-effacingness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-effacement¹

First recorded in 1865–70