as in humble
formal
meant to make yourself or the things you do seem unimportant
He spoke in a self-deprecating tone. self-deprecating humor
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Recent Examples of self-deprecating
He's also known for his self-deprecating jokes, often about his own career.
—
Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025
Publicize your acknowledgment of wrongdoing in a way that feels authentic to your brand and the scale of the misstep—and, if appropriate, a bit of self-deprecating humor often helps.
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025
His coy narrative voice and audacious insouciance, thinly disguised under a patina of classical Oxford education and self-deprecating wit, amuse the reader for several hundred pages.
—Foreign Affairs, 14 Jan. 2025
Perhaps the country had too many of its own idols—or perhaps, as the new musical biopic Better Man argues, Williams was too gleefully self-deprecating to sincerely make the sales pitch.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for self-deprecating 
Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025
Publicize your acknowledgment of wrongdoing in a way that feels authentic to your brand and the scale of the misstep—and, if appropriate, a bit of self-deprecating humor often helps.
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025
His coy narrative voice and audacious insouciance, thinly disguised under a patina of classical Oxford education and self-deprecating wit, amuse the reader for several hundred pages.
—Foreign Affairs, 14 Jan. 2025
Perhaps the country had too many of its own idols—or perhaps, as the new musical biopic Better Man argues, Williams was too gleefully self-deprecating to sincerely make the sales pitch.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for self-deprecating
Thesaurus Entries Near self-deprecating
Cite this Entry
“Self-deprecating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-deprecating. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
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