self-effacing

adjective

Shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable.

“Clark Kent's self-effacing behavior is to purposefully make people ignore him.”

Similar
reticentretiringunassertive
OriginEnglish effacing ← Middle English self- ← Old English self- →
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Meanings

adjectiveself-effacing (comparative more self-effacing, superlative most self-effacing)

comparative more self-effacing · superlative most self-effacing

  1. Shy, extremely humble and modest; making oneself seem unnoticeable.

    Clark Kent's self-effacing behavior is to purposefully make people ignore him.

    3 more examples

    […] When asked about this, Muldoon's self-effacing response is: “I don't think so!”

    2001 May 12, Robert Potts, quoting Paul Muldoon, “The poet at play”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2021

    His personality was also extremely endearing, his interviews were very self-effacing (and), he came over as gentle and was generous in his praise of others.

    2007 January 3, Ian Gillan, “DEEP PURPLE Frontman: ELVIS PRESLEY 'Was The Greatest Singer That Ever Lived'”, in blabbermouth.net, archived from the original on 21 Sep 2020

    I'm sorry if I seem self-effacing / Consumed by selfish thoughts / It's only that I still love you deeply / It's all the love I got

    2010, “Age of Adz”, in The Age of Adz, performed by Sufjan Stevens

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivereluctant to draw attention to yourself

Similar
reticentretiringunassertive
Also see
humblelowlowlymeekmodestpoorreticentretiringunassertive

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*swé?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
  3. Proto-Germanic*selbaz
  4. Old Englishself
  5. Old Englishself-
  6. Middle Englishself-
  7. Englishself-
  8. Englisheffacing
  9. Englishself-effacing

From self- + effacing.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish vaatimaton, nöyrä
  • vaatimatonextremely humble and modest
  • nöyräextremely humble and modest
  • huomaamatonextremely humble and modest
German bescheiden, zurückhaltend
  • bescheidenextremely humble and modest
  • zurückhaltendextremely humble and modest
  • stillextremely humble and modest
  • schüchternextremely humble and modest
  • sanftmütigextremely humble and modest
  • sanftextremely humble and modest
  • zaghaftextremely humble and modest
  • demütigextremely humble and modest
Italian timido, introverso
  • timidoextremely humble and modest
  • introversoextremely humble and modest
  • schivoextremely humble and modest
  • pavidoextremely humble and modest
Māori whakapāpaku, whakamōwai
  • whakapāpakuextremely humble and modest
  • whakamōwaiextremely humble and modest
  • hūnguengueextremely humble and modest
  • tāharaharaextremely humble and modest
Polish skromny
  • skromnyextremely humble and modest
Russian скро́мный, держа́щийся в тени́
  • скро́мный (skrómnyj)extremely humble and modest
  • держа́щийся в тени́ (deržáščijsja v tení)extremely humble and modest
Swedish självutplånande
  • självutplånandeextremely humble and modest
Cite this entry
APA

self-effacing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-effacing

MLA

“self-effacing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-effacing. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-effacing,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-effacing.

Source: self-effacing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.