self-effacing
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
- self-effacingly adverb
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's very self-effacing about it - I think that he just knew he was not cut out for it," he says.
From BBC • Mar. 2, 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
When Harris acted the way that vice presidents normally do — subservient, self-effacing, careful never to poach the spotlight from the chief executive — it was seen as a failing.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2025
In those days very few companies, least of all life and health insurers, would have dared to engage in self-effacing humor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 29, 2025
With his pipe, genially self-effacing manner, and electrified hair, Einstein was too splendid a figure to remain permanently obscure, and in 1919, the war over, the world suddenly discovered him.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
