How to Use self-effacing in a Sentence

self-effacing

adjective
  • Yet a more self-effacing brand of charisma emerges over the course of the collection.
    Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post, 22 June 2023
  • Part of Benchakul’s feats have to do with his self-effacing earnestness.
    Bill Addisonrestaurant Critic, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2023
  • Bentley’s self-effacing jokes aside, the man knows his bluegrass.
    Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 6 Mar. 2023
  • On the witness stand, Carroll was brash, funny, self-effacing and shrewd.
    Monica Hesse, Washington Post, 2 May 2023
  • If ballet was all self-effacing torture, there would be no need to wrestle with it.
    Madison Mainwaring, The New Republic, 19 Apr. 2023
  • Our friend the Corolla Cross gets 30 miles per gallon, a benchmark its self-effacing sedan forebears couldn’t meet just a decade ago.
    Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post, 7 Apr. 2023
  • The self-effacing girl, all of 15, was horrified at the prospect, fainted and was gleefully slapped awake by her mother.
    Michael Farquhar, Washington Post, 13 May 2023
  • These days, however, the people of Turku are proudly tooting their own horn — at least as much as the naturally self-effacing Finns are able to.
    Tom Vanderbilt, Travel + Leisure, 10 Mar. 2023
  • Burton’s own speech was self-effacing in her typical style.
    Liam Hess, Vogue, 5 Dec. 2023
  • Part self-effacing memoir, part how-to for writing screenplays, and a window into how the levers of power worked in Hollywood, this book is a stone-cold classic.
    Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024
  • That memory still grounds Kimmel, who remains self-effacing even as he’s become the go-to host for Hollywood’s biggest night.
    Michael Schneider, Variety, 8 Mar. 2024
  • The film moves between the 1930s sequences, conventionally shot, and the scenes with Hopkins as the self-effacing older Winton recalling those years.
    Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Sep. 2023
  • That humbleness and aw-shucks demeanor would always remain a part of him and anybody who ever met him would be blown away by that self-effacing aspect of his character.
    Steve Rosen, Variety, 10 Mar. 2023
  • There’s a zen, self-effacing quality to the way Lyman talks about it, combined with determination.
    Byallie Garfinkle, Fortune, 12 Apr. 2024
  • VanDerveer said in her typical self-effacing manner to start her first post-game interview Sunday.
    Jeff Metcalfe, The Mercury News, 23 Jan. 2024
  • The upshot is that the self-effacing champion of the vernacular owes his career to one of Mexico’s richest families.
    Justin Davidson, Curbed, 20 Apr. 2023
  • Ohtani introduced himself in English, admitted his nerves, told a few self-effacing stories and awkward jokes through an interpreter and grinned for photographs.
    Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 14 Dec. 2023
  • Moreover, the soft-spoken, self-effacing nonagenarian is still at it, determined to capture the whimsy of nature on canvas, whatever the weather.
    Mike Klingaman, Baltimore Sun, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Strong emotions like pride and anger are generally frowned upon in favor of self-effacing, low-arousal emotions that forge connections with others and promote social harmony.
    Iese Business School, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024
  • Pain banters a bit between songs, countering his bombshell performance with his usual self-effacing wisecracks.
    Meaghan Garvey, Billboard, 2 May 2024
  • Where once drunkenness for the sake of drunkenness among women was framed as unladylike (and therefore to do so could be seen as a feminist statement), our attitudes to drinking have taken on a far more self-effacing, joking tone.
    Sadhbh O'Sullivan, refinery29.com, 12 Oct. 2019
  • Outside the photo’s frame was the shrewd but self-effacing executive who orchestrated the summit: OpenAI’s vice president of global affairs.
    Cat Zakrzewski, Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2024
  • But that worldview — and business strategy — has increasingly put Disney and Mr. Bailey, a low-profile and self-effacing executive, in the middle of a very loud, very unpolite cultural fight.
    Brooks Barnes, New York Times, 4 June 2023
  • As much as Keith could exude arrogance, his pre-9/11 songwriting could also be self-effacing, casting him as an unreliable narrator who falls prey to his own pride and overconfidence.
    Nadine Smith, Rolling Stone, 6 Feb. 2024
  • In person, Galitzine is sweet, self-effacing, reasonably confiding.
    Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2024
  • Such inconsistencies are papered over with enthusiastic praise of what Mordaunt believes to be the eternally courageous, generous, resourceful, and self-effacing virtues of the British people.
    Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2022
  • This was the father A.J. remembered from before Trump’s presidency: witty, self-effacing, less interested in politics than a punchline.
    Eli Saslow Erin Schaff, New York Times, 19 Nov. 2023
  • Advertisement Many airline industry officials marveled at Mr. Wilding’s self-effacing and even-temper in the most difficult of circumstances.
    Adam Bernstein, Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2023
  • Throughout Tomorrow’s Fire, Williams sounds strategically self-effacing while also cradling a quiet, growing inner certainty.
    Leah Lu, Rolling Stone, 12 Oct. 2023
  • Many considered Thompson’s selection overdue, while others were lobbying for a Latino in a Latino-majority school system, another flashpoint for Thompson to manage with his trademark self-effacing poise.
    Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'self-effacing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: