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.
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 • Mar. 5, 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
Vaill also takes exception to the characterization of Eliza as self-effacing.
From Slate • Oct. 21, 2025
Harner recalls Reaser was a particularly potent combination of funny, irreverent, self-effacing and beautiful.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2025
Having worked in intelligence himself, he marveled at the thought of this “wispy, gentle, self-effacing woman knocking off, one by one, some of the nastiest pieces of business then existing.”
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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.
