MODESTY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Modesty

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/mˈɑdəsti/ Listen

noun

Modesty n.

The quality or state of being modest; that lowly temper which accompanies a moderate estimate of one's own worth and importance; absence of self-assertion, arrogance, and presumption; humility respecting one's own merit.

Natural delicacy or shame regarding personal charms and the sexual relation; purity of thought and manners; due regard for propriety in speech or action. "Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty."

Modesty piece, a narrow piece of lace worn by women over the bosom. (Obs.)

Synonyms: Bashfulness; humility; diffidence; shyness. See Bashfulness, and Humility.

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Etymology of 'Modesty'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Modesty" Quotes from Famous Books

... "while she repaired that accident I lifted not my eyes above the hem of her robe, that so her rare modesty might take no offence." ...

— Romance of Roman Villas - (The Renaissance) • Elizabeth W. (Elizbeth Williams) Champney

... even if it is original, and it may be very apt, but few people in real life quote poetry in their ordinary speech. You may be well read in poetry and the kindred arts, but it is hardly the part of modesty or discretion for you to force your quotations upon a reader who very likely cares neither for your erudition nor the poets themselves. It is bad technically, too; and usually, as in the case of the following specimen, ...

— Short Story Writing - A Practical Treatise on the Art of The Short Story • Charles Raymond Barrett

... the ideal of Confucius, the superior person, "the son of the King"? There you had the very essence of Benham, the idea of self-examination, self-preparation under a vague Theocracy. ("Vaguer," said Benham, "for the Confucian Heaven could punish and reward.") Even the elaborate sham modesty of the two dreams was the same. Benham interrupted and protested with heat. And this Confucian idea of the son of the King, Prothero insisted, had been the cause of China's paralysis. "My idea of nobility is not traditional but expectant," said Benham. ...

— The Research Magnificent • H. G. Wells

... and Gideon (and not his uncle, whose initials he had humorously borrowed) was the author of "Who Put Back the Clock?" He had never acknowledged it, or only to some intimate friends while it was still in proof; after its appearance and alarming failure, the modesty of the novelist had become more pressing, and the secret was now likely to be better kept than that of the ...

— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 7 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... was the thought that prompted him to send a manuscript copy of his first almanac to Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State in Washington's cabinet. In his letter to Jefferson, dated August 19, 1791, Banneker made, with characteristic modesty, a polite apology for the "liberty" he took in addressing one of such "distinguished and dignified station," and then proceeded to make a strong appeal for the exercise of a more liberal attitude towards his downtrodden race, using his own achievements as a proof that the "train of absurd and ...

— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918 • Various

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