humiliate

English

Etymology

From Late Latin humiliatus, past participle of humiliare (“to abase, humble”), from Latin humilis (“lowly, humble”), from humus (“ground; earth, soil”); see humble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hjuːˈmɪliˌeɪt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Verb

humiliate (third-person singular simple present humiliates, present participle humiliating, simple past and past participle humiliated)

1. (transitive) To cause to be ashamed; to injure the dignity and self-respect of.

   Synonyms: debase, demean, disgrace, mortify, shame; see also Thesaurus:abash

2. (transitive) To make humble; to lower in condition or status.

   Synonym: humble

   Antonyms: dignify, honor

Related terms

• humble
• humiliation
• humility

Translations

to injure a person's dignity and self-respect

• Albanian: poshtëroj (sq)
• Arabic: أَخْزَى‎ (ʔaḵzā), اِسْتَذَلَّ‎ (istaḏalla), أَذَلَّ‎ (ʔaḏalla)
• Armenian: նվաստացնել (hy) (nvastacʿnel)
• Azerbaijani: alçaltmaq
• Belarusian: прыніжа́ць impf (prynižácʹ), прыні́зіць pf (prynízicʹ)
• Bulgarian: унижа́вам (bg) impf (unižávam), унижа́ pf (unižá)
• Catalan: humiliar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 羞辱 (zh) (xiūrǔ), 侮辱 (zh) (wǔrǔ), 污辱 (zh) (wūrǔ), 欺侮 (zh) (qīwǔ), 辱罵／辱骂 (zh) (rǔmà)

• Czech: ponižovat (cs) impf, ponížit pf
• Danish: ydmyge, fornedre
• Dutch: vernederen (nl), verootmoedigen (nl)
• Esperanto: humiligi
• Estonian: alandama
• Finnish: nöyryyttää (fi)
• French: humilier (fr)
• Galician: humillar (gl)
• Georgian: დამცირება (damcireba), დამდაბლება (damdableba)
• German: demütigen (de), beschämen (de), erniedrigen (de)
• Greek: ταπεινώνω (el) (tapeinóno), ρεζιλεύω (el) (rezilévo), ντροπιάζω (el) (dropiázo)
• Hindi: विनीत करना (vinīt karnā), नीचा दिखाना (nīcā dikhānā)
• Hungarian: megaláz (hu)
• Icelandic: niðurlægja, auðmýkja, lítillækka
• Ido: humileskar (io)
• Indonesian: membuat malu
• Irish: náirigh, uirísligh
• Italian: umiliare (it), avvilire (it)
• Japanese: 辱める (ja) (はずかしめる, hazukashimeru), 屈辱を与える (くつじょくをあたえる, kutsujoku o ataeru), 凹ます (ja) (へこます, hekomasu)
• Kazakh: кемсіту (kemsıtu), қорлау (qorlau)
• Khmer: បញ្ចុះ (km) (bɑñcoh)
• Korean: 굴욕을 주다 (guryog-eul juda), 굴욕감을 주다 (guryokgam-eul juda), 모욕하다 (ko) (moyokhada)
• Kyrgyz: кемситүү (kemsitüü), басынтуу (ky) (basıntuu)
• Lao: ເຮັດໃຫ້ເສັຽຍົດ (het hai sīa nyot), ຖ່ອມ (thǭm)
• Latvian: pazemot
• Lithuanian: pažeminti, žeminti
• Macedonian: понижува impf (ponižuva), понижи pf (poniži)
• Malayalam: പരിഹസിക്കുക (ml) (parihasikkuka), അപമാനിക്കുക (ml) (apamānikkuka)
• Maori: whakapāpaku
• Mauritian Creole: imilie
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: гутаах (mn) (gutaax), доромжлох (mn) (doromžlox)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ydmyke (no), fornedre

  Nynorsk: audmjuka

• Occitan: umiliar (oc)
• Persian: تحقیر کردن‎ (fa) (tahqir kardan)
• Polish: upokarzać (pl) impf, upokorzyć (pl) pf, poniżać (pl) impf, poniżyć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: humilhar (pt)
• Romanian: a jigni (ro), a umili (ro)
• Russian: унижа́ть (ru) impf (unižátʹ), уни́зить (ru) pf (unízitʹ), опуска́ть (ru) impf (opuskátʹ), опусти́ть (ru) pf (opustítʹ) (slang)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: унижа́вати impf, унизи́вати impf, уни́зити pf, понижа́вати impf, понизи́вати impf, пони́зити pf

  Roman: unižávati (sh) impf, unizívati (sh) impf, uníziti (sh) pf, ponižávati (sh) impf, ponizívati (sh) impf, poníziti (sh) pf

• Slovak: ponižovať impf, ponížiť pf
• Slovene: poniževati impf, ponižati pf
• Spanish: humillar (es)
• Swedish: förödmjuka (sv), förnedra (sv)
• Tajik: таҳқир кардан (tahqir kardan)
• Tatar: кимсетергә (kimsetergä)
• Thai: ฉีกหน้า (th) (chìik-nâa), หมิ่น (th) (mìn)
• Turkish: aşağılamak (tr), utandırmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: прини́жувати impf (prynýžuvaty), прини́зити pf (prynýzyty)
• Urdu: ذَلِیل کَرْنا‎ (zalīl karnā)
• Uzbek: xoʻrlamoq (uz), kamsitmoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: làm nhục (vi), sỉ nhục (vi), lăng nhục (vi)
• Volapük: mükükön (vo)
• Yiddish: פֿאַרשעמען‎ (farshemen)

Further reading

• “humiliate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “humiliate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /hu.mi.liˈaː.te/, [hʊmɪlʲiˈäːt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /u.mi.liˈa.te/, [umiliˈäːt̪e]

Verb

humiliāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of humiliō