Synonyms for modest
- adjective
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Unpretentious — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements; unpretentious, humble
unpretentious, humble, demure, meek, unassuming, lowly, diffident, self-effacing, decorous, shy, poor, unobtrusive, bashful, retiring, shamefaced, shrinking, reserved, inferior, unostentatious, unpretending, coy dated
2. Moderate — small, moderate in size
moderate, small, decent, low, mild, tiny, small-scale, middling informal UK, limited, pocket-size, minor, medium
3. Simple — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
simple, quiet, austere, rudimentary, severe, plain, undemonstrative, unembellished, unornamented
4. Chaste — pure and delicate from a sense of propriety
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements; unpretentious, humble.
- adj. 2
Small, moderate in size.
He earns a modest amount of money.
- adj. 3
Pure and delicate from a sense of propriety.
modest thoughts or language
- adj. 4
Intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others.
Related words
- Word family
- modestly modestness modesty
Example sentences
- humble However humble it is, there is no place like home.
- meek Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
- demure Skura's style of dress was described as demure.
- decent No decent human being could possibly believe this.
- mild Spring brings mild weather after the cold winter.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| modest | steady | |
| humble | rising | |
| meek | rising | |
| unpretentious | steady | |
| demure | rising | |
| decent | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- low1, shy1, coy1
- 4 letters
- poor1, tiny2, pure1, mild1, meek1
- 5 letters
- small1, quiet2, minor2, plain1, lowly2, pyore
- 6 letters
- simple2, proper2, medium3, severe2, decent2, humble2, chaste1, demure2
- 7 letters
- limited3, austere2, bashful2, prudish2
- 8 letters
- becoming3, moderate3, reserved2, retiring3, inferior4, virtuous3, middling3, virginal3, decorous3
- 9 letters
- shrinking2, diffident
- 10 letters
- unassuming4, shamefaced
- 11 letters
- rudimentary5, unobtrusive4
- 12 letters
- unornamented, unpretending
- 13 letters
- unpretentious4, unembellished
- 14 letters
- unostentatious
- 15 letters
- undemonstrative
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (tiny2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- modeste
- Italiano
- modesto
- Español
- modesto
- Deutsch
- anspruchslos
- Català
- modest