View synonyms for humbling

humbling

[ huhm-bling, uhm- ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

causing a person to feel less proud, especially through awe, admiration, or gratitude:
This project has involved some exceptionally talented people and it’s been a humbling experience to work with them.
lowering a person’s status, power, dignity, confidence, etc.:
The 26:2 vote in favor of their opponents was indeed a humbling defeat.

the act of affecting a person or thing in any of these ways, or the experience of being so affected:
The Magna Carta marked the restoration of Anglo-Saxon freedom and the humbling of Norman tyranny.

First recorded in 1540–50; humbl(e) ( def ) + -ing ²( def ) for the adjective senses; humbl(e) ( def ) + -ing ¹( def ) for the noun sense

To be the very first moment that we see on an episode of The Good Wife was quite a compliment and very humbling.

The Humbling focuses on Simon Axler (Pacino), a veteran stage actor who loses the desire to act.

Perry called his failed 2012 bid for the GOP nomination “painful” and “humbling.”

The messy, complex, non-linear movement of actual history, by contrast, is unsettling, humbling—even terrifying.

But it is a humbling reminder of how moral campaigns are actually won: with more than simple appeals to the heart.

No small part of those energies in the business district were devoted to humbling the rival, in the matter of commerce.

I don't believe Marian needs humbling; one can't help liking her; and she's ever so good to look at.

She had succumbed to the monster, humbling herself below animals; and now she loved a hero, aspiring to the semi-divine.

It was a strange picture—this brilliant beauty, forgetful of pride and station, humbling herself to a poor candle seller.

Considering his late successes, we are surprised at his thus humbling himself to his foe.

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