humblebrag

verb

hum·​ble·​brag ˈhəm-bəl-ˌbrag 

variants or humble-brag

humblebragged or humble-bragged; humblebragging or humble-bragging

transitive + intransitive

: to make a seemingly modest, self-critical, or casual statement or reference that is meant to draw attention to one's admirable or impressive qualities or achievements

People make themselves look smart, humble-bragging about reading what's billed as one of the 20th century's most difficult books.

—Mark Chiusano

In the study, college students were asked to write down how they'd answer a question about their biggest weakness in a job interview. Results showed that more than three-quarters of participants humblebragged, usually about being a perfectionist or working too hard.

—Shana Leibowitz

Beyond the angel's wings, there was preening and posing and fake modesty, perhaps best represented when he humblebragged to the audience that his "One Less Lonely Girl" choice had "come all the way from Sweden just to see me."

—Ben Fisher

humblebrag noun

or humble-brag

At times, the book comes off like a long, rolling humblebrag. Many sections begin with variations on "When I was 29 years old and running for Congress … " or "When I chaired the U.S. Ballistics Missile Threat Commission … ."

—Adam Sternbergh

Comedian and podcast host Marc Maron has so perfected the art of the humblebrag, even his TV alter ego jokes about how young his girlfriend is.

—Ray Rahman

Examples of humblebrag in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Sometimes the homeowners are present to humblebrag about, say, the difficulty of securing the permits for such an extreme build; often enough, however, only the architect wants to talk. —Judy Berman, Time, 28 Apr. 2020

Meanwhile, Tia humblebrags to the rest of the group about her date with Colton. —Anna Moeslein, Glamour, 13 Aug. 2018

Word History

First Known Use

2002, in the meaning defined above