Standard Lemma guide

humiliate

verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /hjuːˈmɪliˌeɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH Y UW0 M IH1 L IY0 EY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To cause to be ashamed; to injure the dignity and self-respect of.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • The bully tried to humiliate the other students during lunch.
  • He would never intentionally humiliate anyone, even in jest.
  • The harsh comments from the coach humiliated the player in front of the team.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: debase, demean, disgrace, mortify, shame, abase, abash, bring low, confuse, confound, degrade, depress, disconcert, discomfit, dishonour, embarrass, humble, humiliate, lower, put to shame

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To make humble; to lower in condition or status.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: debase, demote, humble, abase, bring down to size, cut down to size, defame, degrade, demean, depress, discredit, disgrace, dishonour, disparage, downgrade, embase, give a bad name, humiliate, knock down to size, put someone in their place, reduce, relegate, sink, slur, trim down to size, whittle down to size

Antonyms: dignify, honor, advance, aggrandize, elevate, ennoble, exalt, nobilitate, prefer, promote, raise, uplift

3

verb

Meaning 3

To defeat overwhelmingly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Topics: games, hobbies, lifestyle, sports

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • He humiliated his colleague by criticising him in front of the boss

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: mortify, chagrin, humble, abase

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hurt, wound, injure, bruise, offend, spite

Narrower terms: crush, smash, demolish, take down, degrade, disgrace, demean, put down

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin humiliātus, perfect passive participle of humiliō (“to abase, humble”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin humilis (“lowly, humble”), from humus (“ground; earth, soil”); see humble.

Across languages

Translations

127 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: poshtëroj — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Arabic: أَخْزَى (ʔaḵzā) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Arabic: اِسْتَذَلَّ (istaḏalla) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Arabic: أَذَلَّ (ʔaḏalla) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Armenian: նվաստացնել (nvastacʻnel) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Azerbaijani: alçaltmaq — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Bashkir: кәмһетеү (kəmhetew) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Belarusian: прыніжа́ць (prynižácʹ) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Belarusian: прыні́зіць (prynízicʹ) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Bulgarian: унижа́вам (unižávam) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Bulgarian: унижа́ (unižá) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Catalan: humiliar — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Chinese Mandarin: 羞辱 (xiūrǔ) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Chinese Mandarin: 侮辱 (wǔrǔ) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Chinese Mandarin: 污辱 (wūrǔ) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Chinese Mandarin: 欺侮 (qīwǔ) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Chinese Mandarin: 辱罵 /辱骂 (rǔmà) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Czech: ponižovat — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Czech: ponížit — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Danish: ydmyge — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Danish: fornedre — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Dutch: vernederen — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Dutch: verootmoedigen — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Esperanto: humiligi — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Estonian: alandama — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Finnish: nöyryyttää — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • French: humilier — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Galician: humillar — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Georgian: დამცირება (damcireba) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Georgian: დამდაბლება (damdableba) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • German: demütigen — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • German: beschämen — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • German: erniedrigen — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Greek: ταπεινώνω (tapeinóno) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Greek: ρεζιλεύω (rezilévo) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Greek: ντροπιάζω (ntropiázo) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Hindi: विनीत करना (vinīt karnā) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Hindi: नीचा दिखाना (nīcā dikhānā) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Hungarian: megaláz — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Icelandic: niðurlægja — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Icelandic: auðmýkja — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Icelandic: lítillækka — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Ido: humileskar — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Indonesian: membuat malu — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Irish: náirigh — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Irish: uirísligh — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Italian: umiliare — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Italian: avvilire — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Japanese: 辱める (hazukashimeru) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Japanese: 屈辱を与える (kutsujoku o ataeru) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Japanese: 凹ます (hekomasu) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Kazakh: кемсіту (kemsıtu) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Kazakh: қорлау (qorlau) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Kazakh: басыну (basynu) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Kazakh: қор қылу (qor qylu) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Khmer: បញ្ចុះ (bɑɑbɑñcoh) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Korean: 굴욕을 주다 (guryog-eul juda) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Korean: 굴욕감을 주다 (guryokgam-eul juda) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Korean: 모욕하다 (moyokhada) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Kyrgyz: кемситүү (kemsitüü) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Kyrgyz: басынтуу (basıntuu) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Lao: ເຮັດໃຫ້ເສັຽຍົດ (het hai sīa nyot) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Lao: ຖ່ອມ (thǭm) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Latin: humiliō — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Latvian: pazemot — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Lithuanian: pažeminti — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Lithuanian: žeminti — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Macedonian: понижува (ponižuva) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Macedonian: понижи (poniži) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Malayalam: പരിഹസിക്കുക (parihasikkuka) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Malayalam: അപമാനിക്കുക (apamānikkuka) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Māori: whakapāpaku — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Mauritian Creole: imilie — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Mongolian: гутаах (gutaax) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Mongolian: доромжлох (doromžlox) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ydmyke — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fornedre — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: audmjuka — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Occitan: umiliar — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Persian: تحقیر کردن (tahqir kardan) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Polish: upokarzać — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Polish: upokorzyć — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Polish: poniżać — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Polish: poniżyć — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Portuguese: humilhar — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Romanian: a jigni — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Romanian: a umili — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Russian: унижа́ть (unižátʹ) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Russian: уни́зить (unízitʹ) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Russian: опуска́ть (opuskátʹ) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Russian: опусти́ть (opustítʹ) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: унижа́вати — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: унизи́вати — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: уни́зити — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: понижа́вати — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: понизи́вати — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: пони́зити — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: unižávati — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: unizívati — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: uníziti — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: ponižávati — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: ponizívati — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: poníziti — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Slovak: ponižovať — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Slovak: ponížiť — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Slovene: poniževati — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Slovene: ponižati — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Spanish: humillar — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Spanish: papear — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Swedish: förödmjuka — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Swedish: förnedra — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Tajik: таҳқир кардан (tahqir kardan) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Tatar: кимсетергә (kimsetergä) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Thai: ฉีกหน้า (chìik-nâa) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Thai: หมิ่น (mìn) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Turkish: aşağılamak — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Turkish: utandırmak — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Ukrainian: прини́жувати (prynýžuvaty) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Ukrainian: прини́зити (prynýzyty) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Urdu: ذَلِیل کَرْنا (zalīl karnā) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Uzbek: xoʻrlamoq — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Uzbek: kamsitmoq — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Vietnamese: làm nhục — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Vietnamese: sỉ nhục — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Vietnamese: lăng nhục — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Volapük: mükükön — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect
  • Yiddish: פֿאַרשעמען (farshemen) — to injure a person's dignity and self-respect