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Boast vs Humble - What's the difference?

boast | humble |

As verbs the difference between boast and humble

is that boast is to brag; to talk loudly in praise of oneself or boast can be (masonry) to dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel while humble is to bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humiliate.

As a noun boast

is a brag, a loud positive appraisal of oneself.

As an adjective humble is

near the ground; not high or lofty; not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; as, a humble cottage or humble can be hornless.

boast

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) boosten, bosten, from .

Noun

(en noun)
  • A brag, a loud positive appraisal of oneself.
  • (squash) A shot where the ball is driven off a side wall and then strikes the front wall.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To brag; to talk loudly in praise of oneself.
  • * 2005 , (Plato), Sophist . Translation by Lesley Brown. .
    • On no account will he or any other kind be able to boast that he's escaped the pursuit of those who can follow so detailed and comprehensive a method of enquiry.
  • To speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation; to extol.
  • * (John Milton)
    • Lest bad men should boast / Their specious deeds.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
    • , volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",
  • (obsolete) To speak in exulting language of another; to glory; to exult.
  • * Bible, Psalms xiiv. 8
    • In God we boast all the day long.
  • (squash) To play a .
  • (ergative) To possess something special.
    • Synonyms
    * brag
    Derived terms
    * boastful * boastfully * outboast

    Etymology 2

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (masonry) To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel.
    • (Weale)
  • (sculpting) To shape roughly as a preparation for the finer work to follow; to cut to the general form required.

    • Anagrams

    * * English reporting verbs

    humble

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . See homage, and compare chameleon, humiliate.

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Near the ground; not high or lofty; not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; as, a humble cottage.
    • Thy humble nest built on the ground. -Cowley.
  • Thinking lowly of oneself; claiming little for oneself; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; modest.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=June 28 , author=Jamie Jackson , title=Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=Rosol's 65 winners to Nadal's 41 was one of the crucial statistics in the 3hr 18min match that ended in a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 triumph labelled a "miracle" by Rosol, who was humble enough to offer commiserations to Nadal.}}
    God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble . Jas. iv. 6.
    She should be humble who would please. -Prior.
    Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of our . . . religion we can never hope to be a happy nation. -Washington.
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * humble plant * eat humble pie
    Related terms
    * humbleness * humiliate * humiliation * humility

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humiliate.
    • Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues have humbled to all strokes. -Shak.
    The genius which humbled six marshals of France. -Macaulay.
  • To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride or arrogance of; to reduce the self-sufficiency of; to make meek and submissive; -- often used reflexively.
    • Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you. 1 Pet. Ch 5: v. 6.
    Derived terms
    * humbler (agent noun)
    Synonyms
    * abase, lower, depress, humiliate, mortify, disgrace, degrade

    Etymology 2

    Compare hummel.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • hornless
    • humble cattle

    External links

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