modesty
part of speech
noun (modesty — uncountable)
meaning for a pupil
1) Not boasting about yourself or your skills, even when you are good. tree →
2) Dressing or behaving in a way that does not draw attention to your body, often for reasons of religion or custom. tree →
3) Being small or not much: the modesty of their home. tree →
sense in the lessons
In PSHE and stories, modesty is a good quality: a modest winner says «the team did well». In religion lessons, many faiths teach modesty in clothes. Opposite: boastfulness, vanity, arrogance. Phrase: «false modesty» — pretending to be humble to get praise.
examples
- Despite her modesty, she was the best player. tree →
- «It was nothing,» he said with modesty. tree →
- Toad had no modesty at all — he sang songs about himself. tree →
- Some people wear long clothes for modesty. tree →
- His modesty made everyone like him. tree →
- The prize-winner thanked her teachers with great modesty. tree →
- False modesty is fishing for compliments. tree →
- However he received all the praises bestowed on him with becoming modesty, and prostrating himself, said: tree →
note
Uncountable. Adjective: modest (a modest girl; a modest house = a small, plain house). Not the same as shyness: a modest person may be confident but does not boast.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «modesty» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.