Modesty

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Modesty \Mod"es*ty\, n. [L. modestia: cf. F. modestie. See
     {Modest}.]
     1. The quality or state of being modest; that lowly temper
        which accompanies a moderate estimate of one's own worth
        and importance; absence of self-assertion, arrogance, and
        presumption; humility respecting one's own merit.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Natural delicacy or shame regarding personal charms and
        the sexual relation; purity of thought and manners; due
        regard for propriety in speech or action.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Modesty piece}, a narrow piece of lace worn by women over
        the bosom. [Obs.] --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Bashfulness; humility; diffidence; shyness. See
          {Bashfulness}, and {Humility}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  modesty
       n 1: freedom from vanity or conceit [ant: {immodesty}]
       2: formality and propriety of manner [syn: {reserve}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  128 Moby Thesaurus words for "modesty":
     aloofness, altruism, backwardness, bashfulness, blankness, boggle,
     boggling, chilliness, coldness, commitment, compunction,
     consecration, constraint, coolness, decency, decorousness, decorum,
     dedication, delicacy, demur, demurral, detachment, devotion,
     diffidence, discreetness, discretion, disinterest,
     disinterestedness, distance, dullness, elegance,
     expressionlessness, fairishness, falter, faltering, frigidity,
     frostiness, guardedness, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation,
     homeliness, humbleness, humility, iciness, impassiveness,
     impassivity, impersonality, inaccessibility, indifference,
     ingloriousness, innocuousness, introversion, lackluster, lowlihood,
     lowliness, meanness, mediocreness, mediocrity, meekness,
     middlingness, moderateness, modestness, objection, passableness,
     pause, plainness, poorness, propriety, protest, pudency, pudicity,
     qualm, qualm of conscience, qualmishness, recoil, remoteness,
     repression, reserve, reservedness, respectability, restraint,
     reticence, reticency, retirement, sacrifice, scruple, scrupulosity,
     scrupulousness, seemliness, self-abasement, self-abnegation,
     self-denial, self-devotion, self-effacement, self-forgetfulness,
     self-immolation, self-neglect, self-neglectfulness,
     self-renouncement, self-sacrifice, self-subjection, selflessness,
     shame, shrinking, shyness, simpleness, smallness, standoffishness,
     stickling, subduedness, submissiveness, suppression, teachableness,
     tediousness, tolerableness, unacquisitiveness, unaffability,
     unapproachability, uncongeniality, undemonstrativeness,
     unexpansiveness, unimportance, unpossessiveness, unpretentiousness,
     unselfishness, withdrawal, withdrawnness