self-abasement
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of self-abasement
First recorded in 1650–60
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.
She cites an online tendency among women to wield the word as a tool of self-abasement — “I’m a mess, I choose chaos.”
From Salon • Jul. 10, 2025
Strong, as we know from his portrayal of Kendall Roy on “Succession,” has a talent for self-abasement.
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2024
Facing incessant doubts about his fitness for office, Mr. Walker tried self-abasement.
From New York Times • Dec. 7, 2022
It can also take him down rabbit holes of grotesquerie and self-abasement, as in I’m Still Here, the faux-documentary he made with Casey Affleck documenting his own fictional mental breakdown.
From Slate • Oct. 3, 2019
There—and note the nice rising tricolon at the very outset— you can see a precise shaping of the speaker’s relationship with the audience, and a fastidious, slightly bogus, self-abasement.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
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.
