Meanings
plural humiliations
- countableuncountableThe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification.
Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.
2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21 - countableuncountableThe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission.
Loving and beloved by him, how different would her destiny have been! An utter sense of desolation came over her; a terror of the future, an overwhelming agony in the present. That he, of all others, should be the one to witness her humiliation!
1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Season”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 22 more examples
One morning Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln were having breakfast when Lincoln did something that aroused the fiery temper of his wife. What, no one remembers now. But Mrs. Lincoln, in a rage, dashed a cup of hot coffee into her husband's face. And she did it in front of the other boarders. Saying nothing, Lincoln sat there in humiliation and silence while Mrs. Early came with a wet towel and wiped off his face and clothes.
1936, Dale Carnegie, “Part 6, Chapter 1. HOW TO DIG YOUR MARITAL GRAVE IN THE QUICKEST POSSIBLE WAY.”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 264They listened to the sound of Fanny’s retreating footsteps. ‘Well, well!’ said Marcus. ‘Oh, take no notice Jess. You know what our Frances Maud is like! It’s nothing to cry about!’ To her humiliation Jessamy found there were tears trickling down her cheeks.
1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 48
Synonyms & antonyms
nounan instance in which you are caused to lose your prestige or self-respect
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinhumiliātiō
- Middle Frenchhumiliation
- Englishhumiliation
From Middle French humiliation, from Late Latin humiliātiō, from humiliāre (“to humiliate”); see humiliate. Equivalent to humiliate + -ion.
More words from Middle French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ταπείνωσις
- ταπείνωσις (tapeínōsis)the state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Arabic إِذْلَال, ذِلَّة
- إِذْلَال (ʔiḏlāl)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- ذِلَّة (ḏilla)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Bulgarian униже́ние, униже́ние
- униже́ние (unižénie)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- униже́ние (unižénie)the state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Catalan humiliació, humiliació
- humiliacióthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- humiliacióthe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Chinese Mandarin 羞辱, 恥辱 /耻辱
- 羞辱 (xiūrǔ)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- 恥辱 /耻辱 (chǐrǔ)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- 屈辱 (qūrǔ)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- 污辱 (wūrǔ)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Czech ponížení, ponížení
- poníženíthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- poníženíthe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Danish ydmygelse, ydmygelse
- ydmygelsethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- ydmygelsethe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Dutch vernedering, vernedering
- vernederingthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- vernederingthe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Esperanto humiligo, humiligo
- humiligothe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- humiligothe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Estonian alandus
- alandusthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Finnish nöyryytys, nolaus
- nöyryytysthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- nolausthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- nöyryyttäminenthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- nöyryytysthe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
French humiliation, humiliation
- humiliationthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- humiliationthe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
German Demütigung, Erniedrigung
- Demütigungthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- Erniedrigungthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- Demütigungthe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
- Erniedrigungthe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Greek ταπείνωση
- ταπείνωση (tapeínosi)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Hebrew הַשׁפָּלָה
- הַשׁפָּלָה (hashpalá)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Hindi निरादर, अपमान
- निरादर (nirādar)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- अपमान (apmān)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- अपमानित (apmānit)the state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Hungarian megalázás, megaláztatás
- megalázásthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- megaláztatásthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Icelandic niðurlæging, auðmýking
- niðurlægingthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- auðmýkingthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- lítillækkunthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Indonesian penghinaan, penghinaan
- penghinaanthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- penghinaanthe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Irish náiriú, uirísliú
- náiriúthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- uirísliúthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- bochtaineachtthe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Italian umiliazione, umiliazione
- umiliazionethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- umiliazionethe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
- smaccothe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Japanese 恥, 恥辱
- 恥 (haji)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- 恥辱 (chijoku)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- 屈辱 (kutsujoku)the state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
- 汚辱 (ojoku)the state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Korean 치욕, 굴욕
- 치욕 (chiyok)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- 굴욕 (guryok)the state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
- 오욕 (oyok)the state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Latvian pazemojums
- pazemojumsthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Lithuanian pažeminimas
- pažeminimasthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Norwegian Bokmål ydmykelse, ydmykelse
- ydmykelsethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- ydmykelsethe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Polish upokorzenie, poniżenie
- upokorzeniethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- poniżeniethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- upokorzeniethe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Portuguese humilhação, humilhação
- humilhaçãothe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- humilhaçãothe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Romanian umilire, înjosire
- umilirethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- înjosirethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- rușinethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Russian униже́ние, униже́ние
- униже́ние (unižénije)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- униже́ние (unižénije)the state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Slovak poníženie
- poníženiethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Spanish humillación, papeada
- humillaciónthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- papeadathe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- humillaciónthe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Swedish förödmjukelse, förödmjukelse
- förödmjukelsethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- förödmjukelsethe state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Tagalog pag-ayop
- pag-ayopthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Thai การฉีกหน้า
- การฉีกหน้า (gaan-chìik-nâa)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Turkish aşağılama, küçük düşürme
- aşağılamathe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- küçük düşürmethe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Ukrainian прини́ження, прини́ження
- прини́ження (prynýžennja)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- прини́ження (prynýžennja)the state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Urdu بے عِزَّتِی, تَذْلِیل
- بے عِزَّتِی (be 'izzatī)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- تَذْلِیل (tazlīl)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- تَحْقِیر (tahqīr)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- ذِلَّت (zillat)the act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- زَک (zak)the state of being humiliated, humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission
Vietnamese sự hạ thấp, sự làm nhục
- sự hạ thấpthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
- sự làm nhụcthe act of humiliating or humbling someone; abasement of pride; mortification
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with humiliation
Cite this entry
humiliation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/humiliation
“humiliation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/humiliation. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “humiliation,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/humiliation.
Source: humiliation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.