humiliate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin humiliātus, perfect passive participle of humiliō (“to abase, humble”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), 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

   The bully tried to humiliate the other students during lunch.

   He would never intentionally humiliate anyone, even in jest.

   The harsh comments from the coach humiliated the player in front of the team.

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

   Synonyms: debase, demote, humble; see also Thesaurus:demean

   Antonyms: dignify, honor; see also Thesaurus:aggrandize

3. (transitive, sports, games) To defeat overwhelmingly.

Derived terms

• humiliatable
• humiliatrix
• rehumiliate

Related terms

• humble
• humiliation
• humility

Translations

to injure a person's dignity and self-respect — see also mortify,‎ embarass

• Albanian: poshtëroj (sq)
• Arabic: أَخْزَى (ʔaḵzā), اِسْتَذَلَّ (istaḏalla), أَذَلَّ (ʔaḏalla)
• Armenian: նվաստացնել (hy) (nvastacʻnel)
• 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 (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) (ntropiázo)
• 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), басыну (basynu), қор қылу (qor qylu)
• 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)
• Latin: humiliō
• Latvian: pazemot
• Lithuanian: pažeminti, žeminti
• Macedonian: понижува impf (ponižuva), понижи pf (poniži)
• Malayalam: പരിഹസിക്കുക (ml) (parihasikkuka), അപമാനിക്കുക (ml) (apamānikkuka)
• Māori: 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

  Latin: 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), papear (es) (Internet slang)
• 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.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “humiliate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [hʊ.mɪ.liˈaː.tɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [u.mi.liˈaː.te]

Verb

humiliāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of humiliō