Word · Frequency #11417
Fully loadedmodesty
谦虚；谦逊
The quality of being modest; having a humble or unassuming opinion of oneself.
- 1.
The quality of being modest; having a limited and not overly high opinion of oneself and one's abilities.
谦虚；对自己能力评价不高
- 2.
freedom from vanity or conceit
摆脱虚荣或自负
- 3.
Moderate behaviour; reserve.
适度的行为；克制
- 4.
formality and propriety of manner
举止的正式性和得体性
- 5.
Pudency, avoidance of sexual explicitness.
羞怯；避免性露骨
矜持；克制；端庄；得体；羞怯；腼腆；谦虚；对自己能力评价不高；摆脱虚荣或自负
In use
Her modesty kept her from mentioning her excellent grades.
In many cultures, modesty is considered an important virtue.
His natural modesty made him a beloved colleague.
in all modesty
固定插入语，表示“毫不自夸地说”，常位于句首或句末。
In all modesty, I think our proposal is the strongest.
说句不自夸的话，我认为我们的提案最有说服力。
have the modesty to do sth
强调某人因谦虚而愿意做某事，常用于肯定语境。
He had the modesty to admit that he had been wrong.
他有自知之明，承认自己错了。
modesty forbids doing sth
正式或略带幽默的用法，主语是 modesty，forbid 后接动名词。
Connections
Collocations
- false modesty
- 假谦虚；虚伪的谦逊
- Don't hide your talents behind false modesty.别用假谦虚来掩饰自己的才能。
- in all modesty
- 谦逊地；毫不自夸地
- In all modesty, I can say the plan worked well.我可以谦逊地说，这个计划效果很好。
- out of modesty
- 出于谦虚
- She refused to take credit out of modesty.她出于谦虚，不愿居功。
- a sense of modesty
- 端庄感；廉耻心
- His comments showed a total lack of a sense of modesty.他的话显得毫无廉耻心。
- modesty forbids
- （因谦逊而）不便
- Modesty forbids me from praising my own work.出于谦逊，我不便夸赞自己的工作。
- a show of modesty
Learner notes
Memory Tip
把 modesty 想成 modest（谦虚的）加名词后缀 -y，记住一个低调不炫耀的形象。
Context & Register
语域：mixed 常见场景：日常谈论谦虚品行、正式演讲或书面语、谈论着装或言行得体 modesty 的语域比较灵活：表示“谦虚、谦逊”时多用于日常中性语境；表示“端庄、得体”或“避免露骨”时通常较正式或略带古雅，比较常见于书面语或正式场合。口语中较少用后一种含义。
Grammar Note
通常不可数，虽有复数形式但不常用
Pronunciation & Spelling
Modesty has no exact common rhyme. The -esty lookalikes honesty /ˈɑnəsti/, majesty /ˈmædʒəsti/, and travesty /ˈtrævəsti/ share the final /əsti/ sound but differ in the stressed vowel and following consonants, so they do not rhyme with /ˈmɑdəsti/. Modest /ˈmɑdɪst/ is the base adjective but has a different final vowel.
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 1，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.