Standard Lemma guide

modest

adj · 11 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.

  • General-American: /ˈmɑdəst/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɒdəst
  • CMU ARPABET: M AA1 D AH0 S T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements; unpretentious, humble.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: demure, meek, abased, diffident, humble, humble-hearted, low, lowly, mild, modest, poor, resigned, self-effacing, unpretentious, verecund

Antonyms: arrogant, immodest, airy, chesty, authoritarian, biggity, big-headed, blustery, boastful, lordly, bombastic, buggish, cocky, conceited, disdainful, domineering, egotistical, entitled, flatulent, flaunting, full of oneself, glorious, grandiose, hankty, haught, haughty, haut, high-handed, high-hat, high and mighty, highfalutin, hoity-toity, holier-than-thou, hubristic, hubristical, imperious, inflated, insolent, la-di-da, orgulous, ostentatious, overbearing, overweening, pompous, presumptuous, pretentious, priggish, puffed up, sanctimonious, self-important, snobbish, snooty, snotty, stout, stuck up, supercilious, thrasonic, thrasonical, toploftical, toplofty, tumid, turgid, uppish, uppity, uppy, upstage, vain

2

adj

Meaning 2

Small, moderate in size.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • He earns a modest amount of money.
  • Her latest novel was a modest success.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: moderate, tiny, average, intermediate, middle, middling, mild, medium, compact, fun size, fun-sized, ickle, insignificant, lit'l, little, low, modest, mini, petty, pint-sized, pocket-size, slim, slight, small, small-scale, undersized, wee, wurly

Antonyms: immodest, obscene, ample, big, exceeding, cosmic, bodacious, broad, commodious, considerable, expansive, good-sized, full, generous, giant, grand, great, hefty, hench, immense, jumbo, larger than life, largifical, leviathan, liberal, long, massive, mega-, overlarge, outsized, oversize, oversized, prodigious, roomy, rotund, sizeable, spacious, stonking, substantial, tall, vast, voluminous, wide, astronomic, behemothic, big fat, boxcar, Brobdingnagian, bulky, colossal, cyclopean, Daniel Lambertish, elephantine, elephantic, enormous, gargantuan, giantesque, gigantesque, gigantic, gigantuan (colloquial, nonstandard)), ginormous, great big, honkin', huge, hulking, humongous, hunormous, immane, mahoosive, mammoth, mastodonic, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, pantagruelian, pyramidal, Pythonic, stupendous, super-, supersized, titanic, tremendous, whopping, yuge, devilish, excessive, de trop, extravagant, extreme, immoderate, intemperate, lavish, nimious, overmuch, overweening, over the top, prodigal, undue, unmeasured, unreasonable, unrestrained, wanton

3

adj

Meaning 3

Pure and delicate from a sense of propriety.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • modest thoughts or language

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: chaste, demure, prudish, virginal

Antonyms: immodest, obscene, adult, bawdy, blue, cheeky, dirty, indecent, filthy, gross, harlot, impure, ithyphallic, lewd, licentious, mucky, naughty, near the knuckle, off-colour, racy, raunchy, ribald, ribaudred, ribaudrous, risqué, rorty, salacious, saucy, shocking, sluttish, slutlike, slutty, smutty, spicy, tartish, tarty, trampy, vulgar

4

adj

Meaning 4

Intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: especially

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: austere, chaste, bare, inornate, modest, plain, quiet, severe, simple, spartan, unadorned, unembellished, unextravagant, unornamented, undecked, ungarnished, untrimmed, unvarnished

Antonyms: provocative, sexy, sensual, flamboyant, alluring, arousing, attractive, bangable, beautiful, beddable, bedworthy, bonable, bonerific, buff, delicious, desirable, doable, dreamy, effable, fanciable, fappable, fapworthy, fine, fit, fuckable, gorgeous, hittable, horny, hot, humpable, peng, raunchy, rootable, salacious, screwable, seductive, sexable, sexalicious, shaggable, swoonsome, tasty, toothsome, bedizened, blatant, blingish, brash, campy, catchpenny, chichi, chintzy, corny, crass, crude, flashy, flaunting, florid, flossy, froufrou, garish, gauche, gaudy, gay, glaring, gross, gussied up, hideous, kitsch, kitschy, loud, meretricious, naff, obtrusive, ostentatious, pizazzy, pretentious, ritzy, raffish, schlocky, showy, snazzy, splendiferous, tacky, tasteless, tawdry, tinselly, too much, trinkety, unbecoming, untasteful, vain, whorish, zesty

5

adjective

Meaning 5

not offensive to sexual mores in conduct or appearance

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: immodest

6

adjective

Meaning 6

marked by simplicity; having a humble opinion of yourself

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a modest apartment
  • too modest to wear his medals

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: immodest

7

adjective satellite

Meaning 7

limited in size or scope

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a small business
  • a newspaper with a modest circulation
  • small-scale plans
  • a pocket-size country

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: minor, small, small-scale, pocket-size, pocket-sized

Antonyms: none provided

8

adjective satellite

Meaning 8

not large but sufficient in size or amount

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a modest salary
  • modest inflation
  • helped in my own small way

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: small

Antonyms: none provided

9

adjective satellite

Meaning 9

free from pomp or affectation

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • comfortable but modest cottages
  • a simple rectangular brick building
  • a simple man with simple tastes

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

adjective satellite

Meaning 10

humble in spirit or manner; suggesting retiring mildness or even cowed submissiveness

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • meek and self-effacing

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: meek, mild

Antonyms: none provided

11

adjective satellite

Meaning 11

low or inferior in station or quality

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a humble cottage
  • a lowly parish priest
  • a modest man of the people
  • small beginnings

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: humble, low, lowly, small

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle French modeste, from Latin modestus.

Across languages

Translations

136 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مُتْوَاضِع (mutwāḍiʕ) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Armenian: համեստ (hamest) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Armenian: պարկեշտ (parkešt) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Azerbaijani: təvazökar — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Azerbaijani: təvazölü — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Belarusian: скро́мны (skrómny) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Belarusian: сці́плы (scíply) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Bulgarian: скро́мен (skrómen) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Catalan: modest — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Chinese Mandarin: 謙虛 /谦虚 (qiānxū) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Chinese Mandarin: 謙讓 /谦让 (qiānràng) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Chinese Mandarin: 謙遜 /谦逊 (qiānxùn) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Chinese Mandarin: 謙恭 /谦恭 (qiāngōng) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Chinese Mandarin: 虛心 /虚心 (xūxīn) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Czech: skromný — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Danish: beskeden — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Dutch: bescheiden — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Dutch: ingetogen — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Esperanto: modesta — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Finnish: vaatimaton — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • French: modeste — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Galician: modesto — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • German: bescheiden — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • German: maßvoll — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Greek: ταπεινός (tapeinós) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Greek: μετριόφρων (metriófron) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Greek: σεμνός (semnós) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Ancient Greek: αἰδήμων (aidḗmōn) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Ancient Greek: αἰδοῖος (aidoîos) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Haitian Creole: modès — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Hebrew: צָנוּעַ (tsanúa) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Hindi: शालीन (śālīn) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Hindi: नम्र (namra) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Hindi: विनम्र (vinamra) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Hindi: लज्जावान (lajjāvān) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Hungarian: szerény — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Irish: náireach — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Irish: náiriúil — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Irish: adhnáireach — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Irish: modhúil — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Italian: modesto — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Japanese: 謙虚な (kenkyo na) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Japanese: 謙遜した (kenson shita) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Korean: 겸손하다 (gyeomsonhada) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Latin: modestus — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Latvian: pieticīgs — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Lithuanian: kuklus — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Macedonian: скромен (skromen) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Māori: whakamōwai — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Māori: pōrearea — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Old English: sċamfæst — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Plautdietsch: bescheiden — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Polish: skromny — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Portuguese: modesto — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Romanian: modest — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Russian: скро́мный (skrómnyj) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Serbo-Croatian: скро̏ман — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Serbo-Croatian: skrȍman — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Slovak: skromný — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Slovene: skromen — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Spanish: modesto — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Spanish: humilde — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Swedish: blygsam — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Thai: ถ่อมตัว (tɔ̀m-dtuua) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Turkish: kalender — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Turkish: alçak gönüllü — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Turkish: mütevazı — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Ukrainian: скро́мний (skrómnyj) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Vietnamese: khiêm tốn — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Yiddish: באַשיידן (basheydn) — not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
  • Armenian: համեստ (hamest) — small
  • Catalan: modest — small
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小的 (xiǎo de) — small
  • Chinese Mandarin: 數量不大的 /数量不大的 (shùliàng bùdà de) — small
  • Chinese Mandarin: 少量的 (shǎoliàng de) — small
  • Chinese Mandarin: 略微的 (lüèwēi de) — small
  • Chinese Mandarin: 樸素的 /朴素的 (pǔsù de) — small
  • Danish: beskeden — small
  • Danish: moderat — small
  • Dutch: bescheiden — small
  • Esperanto: modesta — small
  • Finnish: vaatimaton — small
  • French: modeste — small
  • Galician: modesto — small
  • German: bescheiden — small
  • German: klein — small
  • German: gering — small
  • German: moderat — small
  • Greek: ταπεινός (tapeinós) — small
  • Hindi: साधारण (sādhāraṇ) — small
  • Italian: modesto — small
  • Italian: irrisorio — small
  • Italian: esiguo — small
  • Japanese: 適度 (tekido) — small
  • Latin: modestus — small
  • Polish: skromny — small
  • Polish: niewielki — small
  • Portuguese: modesto — small
  • Russian: скро́мный (skrómnyj) — small
  • Spanish: pequeño — small
  • Spanish: modesto — small
  • Spanish: moderado — small
  • Spanish: módico — small
  • Swedish: liten — small
  • Turkish: naçiz — small
  • Turkish: naçizane — small
  • Turkish: mütevazı — small
  • Yiddish: באַשיידן (basheydn) — small
  • Arabic: مُحْتَشِم (muḥtašim) — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Armenian: համեստ (hamest) — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Bulgarian: сдържан (sdǎržan) — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Catalan: modest — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Chinese Mandarin: 端莊的 /端庄的 (duānzhuāng de) — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Chinese Mandarin: 適度的 /适度的 (shìdù de) — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Danish: blufærdig — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Danish: anstændig — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Danish: sømmelig — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Danish: ærbar — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Dutch: kuis — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Dutch: fatsoenlijk — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Dutch: eerbaar — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Dutch: ingetogen — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Dutch: zedig — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Finnish: siveä — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • German: anständig — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • German: sittsam — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Greek: σεμνός (semnós) — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Irish: modhúil — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Portuguese: recatado — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Portuguese: decente — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Russian: благопристо́йный (blagopristójnyj) — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Russian: скро́мный (skrómnyj) — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Spanish: decente — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Spanish: pudoroso — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Spanish: púdico — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
  • Yiddish: צניעותדיק (tsniesdik) — intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
Real reading context

modest in complete knowledge articles

Knott Rigg Language & communication · Developing · 2 uses