self-effacing

British  

adjective

1. tending to make oneself, one's actions, etc, inconspicuous, esp because of humility or timidity; modest

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Other Word Forms

• self-effacingly adverb

Example Sentences

Whatever his intention with this self-effacing and possibly insulting answer, Mr. Newsom seemed unschooled in the dialogue of politics.

From The Wall Street Journal

"He's very self-effacing about it - I think that he just knew he was not cut out for it," he says.

From BBC

So self-effacing is Rembrandt, in fact, that some portraits, and this is one, seem to have come into being independent of human agency.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Eastward, Westward” is the opposite of congratulatory: It is courtly and self-effacing.

From The Wall Street Journal

In the pilot, she is insecure and self-effacing; when a car almost runs her over, she apologizes to the driver.

From Salon

Related Words

• coy
• discreet
• humble
• reticent
• unassuming
• unobtrusive
• unpretentious