MODEST • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Modest

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/mˈɑdəst/ Listen

adjective

Modest adj.

Restraining within due limits of propriety; not forward, bold, boastful, or presumptious; rather retiring than pushing one's self forward; not obstructive; as, a modest youth; a modest man.

Observing the proprieties of the sex; not unwomanly in act or bearing; free from undue familiarity, indecency, or lewdness; decent in speech and demeanor; said of a woman. "Mrs. Ford, the honest woman, the modest wife." "The blushing beauties of a modest maid."

Evincing modestly in the actor, author, or speaker; not showing presumption; not excessive or extreme; moderate; as, a modest request; modest joy.

Synonyms: Reserved; unobtrusive; diffident; bashful; coy; shy; decent; becoming; chaste; virtuous.

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Etymology of 'Modest'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Modest" Quotes from Famous Books

... that walked with Messer Guido were familiar. Every woman that saw him admired him highly. So Vittoria smiled a little on me and a great deal on Messer Guido; and as for Dante, she glanced at him slightly and gave him little heed, for his habit was modest and his looks were not of a kind at once to tickle the fancy of such as she. Yet Dante looked at her curiously, though without ostentation, as one whose way it is instinctively to observe all men and all women with an exceeding ...

— The God of Love • Justin Huntly McCarthy

... matter of close observation and experience, although some persons have a natural feeling or instinct regarding color which is seldom in error. Strong colors should never be used, especially greens. Though they may be modest in the piece, when worked in with other colors, they have an unfortunate way of becoming intensified tenfold. The safest tones for an amateur to deal with are dull gray green, yellow green, and a soft, full, but dark olive. In striking a certain key in color it should ...

— Hand-Loom Weaving - A Manual for School and Home • Mattie Phipps Todd

... ten thousand virgins, all modest, lovely, and in light drapery, singing hymns in praise of Ganesa on the Rat, the god of ...

— The Pacha of Many Tales • Captain Frederick Marryat

... had a very interesting chap for dinner—a New Zealander he was, who has served in Egypt, Gallipoli, the trenches in France, and is now in the Royal Naval Reserve. The tales he told were of wonderful interest. He was modest and seemed to have been a decent sort, but you could sense the brutalizing effect of war on him. Some of the things he told were such jokes on the Germans that we ...

— World's War Events, Volume III • Various

... architecture. We concluded that we could get along with five rooms (although six would be better), and we transferred our affections from that corner lot in the avenue which had engaged our attention during the decadent-renaissance phase of our enthusiasm to a modest point in Slocum's Addition, a locality originally known as Slocum's Slough, but now advertised and heralded by the press and rehabilitated in public opinion as Paradise Park. This pleasing mania ...

— The House - An Episode in the Lives of Reuben Baker, Astronomer, and of His Wife, Alice • Eugene Field

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