self-effacement

American  

[self-i-feys-muhnt, self-] / ˈsɛlf ɪˈfeɪs mənt, ˌsɛlf- /

noun

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

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self-effacement British  

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

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

Etymology

Origin of self-effacement

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

The clean installation helps the viewer to “get” Samaras—his off-kilter intensity and odd self-effacement, in spite of all the focus on his own likeness.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 25, 2026

“Acting felt like the thing I could fake, because everybody else was so good at everything,” she said with typical self-effacement.

From New York Times • Apr. 24, 2023

As the interview winds down, Sharpton calls himself, with an uncharacteristic mix of self-effacement and understatement, “some fat guy from Brooklyn who lost the weight and got some stuff done.”

From Washington Post • Dec. 5, 2022

One of the reasons Boseman was such a marvelous actor was his genius for self-effacement, his ability to hold the spotlight without dominating it.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 8, 2022

It is safer, you conclude, to choose self-effacement at this critical moment in your career.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker