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.
“Eastward, Westward” is the opposite of congratulatory: It is courtly and self-effacing.
In the pilot, she is insecure and self-effacing; when a car almost runs her over, she apologizes to the driver.
From Salon
In his obituary for Gehry, Christopher Hawthorne described the studio as a “spare, even self-effacing stucco box, plain outside and filled with light and surprising spatial complexity inside.”
From Los Angeles Times
He has a wide smile and an easygoing, self-effacing way about him.
From Los Angeles Times
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
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.
