humility
- 1The quality of being humble, as it shows both in a person's character and in how they behave.
After years in office, the mayor still had a reputation for humility and plain speaking.
She accepted the prize with genuine humility, giving most of the credit to her students.
Similarmodesty, humbleness
Oppositearrogance, pride, conceit, vanity
Note
Behind this virtue lies a word for being low. Latin humilitas meant lowness, even meanness or baseness; Late Latin gave it the virtuous sense, which reached English through Old French humilité as Middle English humilite. It displaced the native Old English ēaþmōdnes.
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Origin
From Middle English humilite, from Old French (h)umilité, from Latin humilitas ("lowness, meanness, baseness," and in Late Latin "humility"), which comes from humilis ("low, lowly, humble"). It is equivalent to humble + -ity and replaced the native Old English word ēaþmōdnes. It is a doublet of omertà.