English
Etymology
From Middle French modeste, from Latin modestus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
modest (comparative more modest or modester, superlative most modest or modestest)
- Not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements; unpretentious, humble.
- Synonyms: demure, meek; see also Thesaurus:humble
- Antonyms: arrogant, immodest; see also Thesaurus:arrogant
- Small, moderate in size.
- Synonyms: moderate, tiny; see also Thesaurus:intermediate, Thesaurus:small
- Antonyms: immodest, obscene; see also Thesaurus:large, Thesaurus:excessive
He earns a modest amount of money.
Her latest novel was a modest success.
- Pure and delicate from a sense of propriety.
- Synonyms: chaste, demure, prudish, virginal
- Antonyms: immodest, obscene; see also Thesaurus:obscene
modest thoughts or language
- (especially of behavior or clothing) Intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others.
- Synonyms: austere, chaste; see also Thesaurus:unadorned
- Antonyms: provocative, sexy, sensual, flamboyant; see also Thesaurus:sexy, Thesaurus:gaudy
Derived terms
Translations
not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements
- Arabic: مُتْوَاضِع (mutwāḍiʕ)
- Armenian: համեստ (hy) (hamest), պարկեշտ (hy) (parkešt)
- Azerbaijani: təvazökar, təvazölü
- Belarusian: скро́мны (skrómny), сці́плы (scíply)
- Bulgarian: скро́мен (bg) (skrómen)
- Catalan: modest (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 謙虛 / 谦虚 (zh) (qiānxū), 謙讓 / 谦让 (zh) (qiānràng), 謙遜 / 谦逊 (zh) (qiānxùn), 謙恭 / 谦恭 (zh) (qiāngōng), 虛心 / 虚心 (zh) (xūxīn)
- Czech: skromný (cs)
- Danish: beskeden
- Dutch: bescheiden (nl), ingetogen (nl)
- Esperanto: modesta (eo)
- Finnish: vaatimaton (fi)
- French: modeste (fr)
- Galician: modesto
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: bescheiden (de), maßvoll (de)
- Greek: ταπεινός (el) (tapeinós), μετριόφρων (el) (metriófron), σεμνός (el) (semnós)
- Ancient: αἰδήμων (aidḗmōn), αἰδοῖος (aidoîos)
- Haitian Creole: modès
- Hebrew: צָנוּעַ (tsanúa)
- Hindi: शालीन (hi) (śālīn), नम्र (hi) (namra)
- Hungarian: szerény (hu)
- Irish: náireach, náiriúil, adhnáireach, modhúil
- Italian: modesto (it)
- Japanese: 謙虚な (ja) (けんきょな, kenkyo na), 謙遜した (ja) (けんそんした, kenson shita)
- Korean: 겸손하다 (ko) (gyeomsonhada)
- Latin: modestus
- Latvian: pieticīgs
- Lithuanian: kuklus
- Macedonian: скромен (skromen)
- Maori: whakamōwai, pōrearea
- Old English: sċamfæst
- Plautdietsch: bescheiden
- Polish: skromny (pl)
- Portuguese: modesto (pt)
- Romanian: modest (ro)
- Russian: скро́мный (ru) (skrómnyj)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: скро̏ман
- Roman: skrȍman (sh)
- Slovak: skromný
- Slovene: skromen (sl)
- Spanish: modesto (es), humilde (es)
- Swedish: blygsam (sv)
- Thai: ถ่อมตัว (th) (tɔ̀m-dtuua)
- Turkish: kalender (tr), alçak gönüllü (tr), mütevazı (tr)
- Ukrainian: скро́мний (skrómnyj)
- Vietnamese: khiêm tốn (vi)
- Yiddish: באַשיידן (basheydn)
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small
- Armenian: համեստ (hy) (hamest)
- Catalan: modest (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 小的 (xiǎo de), 數量不大的 / 数量不大的 (shùliàng bùdà de), 少量的 (shǎoliàng de), 略微的 (lüèwēi de), 樸素的 / 朴素的 (pǔsù de)
- Danish: beskeden, moderat (da)
- Dutch: bescheiden (nl)
- Esperanto: modesta (eo)
- Finnish: vaatimaton (fi)
- French: modeste (fr)
- Galician: modesto
- German: bescheiden (de), klein (de), gering (de), moderat (de)
- Greek: ταπεινός (el) (tapeinós)
- Hindi: साधारण (hi) (sādhāraṇ)
- Italian: modesto (it), irrisorio (it), esiguo (it)
- Japanese: 適度 (ja) (てきど, tekido)
- Latin: modestus
- Polish: skromny (pl), niewielki (pl)
- Portuguese: modesto (pt)
- Russian: скро́мный (ru) (skrómnyj)
- Spanish: pequeño (es), modesto (es), moderado (es), módico (es)
- Swedish: liten (sv)
- Turkish: naçiz (tr), naçizane (tr), mütevazı (tr)
- Yiddish: באַשיידן (basheydn)
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intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others
- Arabic: مُحْتَشِم (muḥtašim)
- Armenian: համեստ (hy) (hamest)
- Bulgarian: сдържан (bg) (sdǎržan)
- Catalan: modest (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 端莊的 / 端庄的 (duānzhuāng de), 適度的 / 适度的 (shìdù de)
- Danish: blufærdig, anstændig, sømmelig, ærbar
- Dutch: kuis (nl), fatsoenlijk (nl), eerbaar (nl), ingetogen (nl), zedig (nl)
- Finnish: siveä (fi)
- German: anständig (de), sittsam (de)
- Greek: σεμνός (el) (semnós)
- Irish: modhúil
- Portuguese: recatado (pt), decente (pt)
- Russian: благопристо́йный (ru) (blagopristójnyj), скро́мный (ru) (skrómnyj)
- Spanish: decente (es), pudoroso (es), púdico (es)
- Yiddish: צניעותדיק (tsniesdik)
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Anagrams
Albanian
Pronunciation
Adjective
modést (feminine modeste)
- modest
Derived terms
Further reading
- “modest”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
- FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language][1], 1980
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin modestus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
modest (feminine modesta, masculine plural modests or modestos, feminine plural modestes)
- modest
- Antonym: immodest
Derived terms
Further reading
- “modest”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
- “modest”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
- “modest” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “modest” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin modestus or French modeste or Italian modesto.
Pronunciation
Adjective
modest m or n (feminine singular modestă, masculine plural modești, feminine and neuter plural modeste)
- modest
Declension
Declension of modest
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singular
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plural
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masculine
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neuter
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feminine
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masculine
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neuter
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feminine
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nominative- accusative
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indefinite
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modest
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modestă
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modești
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modeste
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definite
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modestul
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modesta
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modeștii
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modestele
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genitive- dative
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indefinite
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modest
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modeste
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modești
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modeste
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definite
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modestului
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modestei
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modeștilor
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modestelor
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