unassuming
/ʌnəˈsjuːmɪŋ
/adjective
Not pretentious or arrogant; modest: he was an unassuming and kindly man...
- I have to say that he was a thoroughly nice bloke, genuinely modest and unassuming.
- Her modest and unassuming manner is admirable and in a way is one of the reasons why the volunteers go out of their way to help.
- As for Ken Morrison, I have twice fleetingly met him and found him to be a modest and unassuming person.
Synonyms
modest, self-effacing, humble, meek, mild, retiring, demure, restrained, reserved, withdrawn, reticent, diffident, shy, bashful, timid, timorous, shrinking, unconfident, insecure, unassertive;
unobtrusive, unostentatious, unpretentious, unaffected, natural, genuine, simple, artless, ingenuous
Derivatives
unassumingly
- He supported from a distance as he built a successful career, but in recent years he has emerged, quietly and unassumingly, as the biggest benefactor in the club's history.
- You felt that it was him that quietly and unassumingly kept things together as both Pete Townsend and Roger Daltry seemed quite volatile characters.
- Having forced herself never to ask for help, let alone admit to needing it, Beck was awed when help repeatedly was offered to her, quietly and unassumingly.
unassumingness
- This stood out: for its idiosyncrasy and scrupulousness, for its thoughtful rebellion against unthinking unassumingness.
- Cornelius slightly raises his brows and makes his son a little bow - indicative of the unassumingness and self-abnegation that befits his age.
- The Puffy Chair would never presume so much, and it's in that unassumingness that this little charmer wins your heart, even as it's breaking it.