SG Heritage Dictionary

Modest [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Properly, restrained by a sense of propriety; hence, not forward or bold; not presumptuous or arrogant; not boastful; as a modest youth; a modest man.

2. Not bold or forward; as a modest maid. The word may be thus used without reference to chastity.

3. The blushing beauties of a modest maid.

4. Not loose; not lewd.

5. Mrs. Ford, the honest woman, the modest wife.

6. Moderate; not excessive or extreme; not extravagant; as a modest request; modest joy; a modest computation.

Modest [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. Restraining within due limits of propriety; not forward, bold, boastful, or presumptious; rather retiring than pushing one's self forward; not obstructive; as, a modest youth; a modest man.

2. Observing the proprieties of the sex; not unwomanly in act or bearing; free from undue familiarity, indecency, or lewdness; decent in speech and demeanor; -- said of a woman.

3. Evincing modestly in the actor, author, or speaker; not showing presumption; not excessive or extreme; moderate; as, a modest request; modest joy.

Modestly [Adverb] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Not boldly; not arrogantly or presumptuously; with due respect. He modestly expressed his opinions.

2. Not loosely or wantonly; decently; as, to be modestly attired; to behave modestly

3. Not excessively; not extravagantly.

Modestly [Adverb] Webster's Dictionary 1913

In a modest manner.

Modesty [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. That lowly temper which accompanies a moderate estimate of one's own worth and importance. This temper when natural, springs in some measure from timidity, and in young and inexperienced persons, is allied to bashfulness and diffidence. In persons who have seen the world, and lost their natural timidity, modesty springs no less from principle than from feeling, and is manifested by retiring, unobtrusive manners, assuming less to itself than others are willing to yield, and conceding to others all due honor and respect, or even more than they expect or require.

2. modesty as an act or series of acts, consists in humble, unobtrusive deportment, as opposed to extreme boldness, forwardness, arrogance, presumption, audacity or impudence. Thus we say, the petitioner urged his claims with modesty; the speaker addressed the audience with modesty

3. Moderation; decency.

4. In females, modesty has the like character as in males; but the word is used also as synonymous with chastity, or purity of manners. In this sense, modesty results from purity of mind, or from the fear of disgrace and ignominy fortified by education and principle. Unaffected modesty is the sweetest charm of female excellence, the richest gem in the diadem of their honor.

Modesty [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

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.

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.

Modesty-piece [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A narrow lace worn by females over the bosom.

Smallness Roget’s Thesaurus §32

N. smallness, littleness, tenuity, paucity, fewness, meanness, insignificance (unimportance) 643, mediocrity, moderation, small quantity, modicum, trace, hint, minimum, vanishing point, material point, atom, particle, molecule, corpuscle, point, speck, dot, mote, jot, iota, ace, minutiae, details, look, thought, idea, soupcon, dab, dight, whit, tittle, shade, shadow, spark, scintilla, gleam, touch, cast, grain, scruple, granule, globule, minim, sup, sip, sop, spice, drop, droplet, sprinkling, dash, morceau, screed, smack, tinge, tincture, inch, patch, scantling, tatter, cantlet, flitter, gobbet, mite, bit, morsel, crumb, seed, fritter, shive, snip, snippet, snick, snack, snatch, slip, scrag, chip, chipping, shiver, sliver, driblet, clipping, paring, shaving, hair, nutshell, thimbleful, spoonful, handful, capful, mouthful, fragment, fraction, drop in the ocean, animalcule, trifle, mere nothing, next to nothing, hardly anything, just enough to swear by, the shadow of a shade, finiteness, finite quantity

V. be small, lie in a nutshell, diminish, (contract) 195

Adj. small, little, diminutive, minute, fine, inconsiderable, paltry, faint, slender, light, slight, scanty, scant, limited, meager, sparing, few, low, so-so, middling, tolerable, no great shakes, below par, under par, below the mark, at a low ebb, halfway, moderate, modest, tender, subtle, inappreciable, evanescent, infinitesimal, homeopathic, very small, atomic, corpuscular, microscopic, molecular, subatomic, mere, simple, sheer, stark, bare, near run, dull, petty, shallow, stolid, ungifted, unintelligent

Adv. to a small extent, on a small scale, a little bit, a wee bit, slightly, imperceptibly, miserably, wretchedly, insufficiently, imperfectly, faintly, passably, pretty well, well enough, partially, in part, in a certain degree, to a certain degree, to a certain extent, comparatively, some, rather in some degree, in some measure, something, somewhat, simply, only, purely, merely, at least, at the least, at most, at the most, ever so little, as little as may be, tant soit peu, in ever so small a degree, thus far, pro tanto, within bounds, in a manner, after a fashion, so to speak, almost, nearly, well-nigh, short of, not quite, all but, near upon, close upon, peu s'en faut, near the mark, within an ace of, within an inch of, on the brink of, scarcely, hardly, barely, only just, no more than, about, thereabouts, somewhere about, nearly, say, be the same, be little more or less, no ways, no way, no wise, not at all, not in the least, not a bit, not a bit of it, not a whit, not a jot, not a shadow, in no wise, in no respect, by no means, by no manner of means, on no account, at no hand

Phr. dare pondus idonea fumo, magno conatu magnas nugas, "small sands the mountain, moments make the year", quantity by comparison with a similar object

Humility Roget’s Thesaurus §879

N. humility, humbleness, meekness, lowness, lowliness, lowlihood, abasement, self-abasement, submission, resignation, condescension, affability, modesty, verecundity|, blush, suffusion, confusion, sense of shame, sense of disgrace, humiliation, mortification, let down, set down

V. be humble, deign, vouchsafe, condescend, humble oneself, demean oneself, stoop, stoop to conquer, carry coals, submit, submit with a good grace, yield the palm, lower one's tone, lower one's note, sing small, draw in one's horns, sober down, hide one's face, hide one's diminished head, not dare to show one's face, take shame to oneself, not have a word to say for oneself, feel shame, be conscious of shame, feel disgrace, be conscious of disgrace, drink the cup of humiliation to the dregs, blush for, blush up to the eves, redden, change color, color up, hang one's head, look foolish, feel small, render humble, humble, humiliate, let down, set down, take down, tread down, frown down, snub, abash, abase, make one sing small, strike dumb, teach one his distance, put down, take down a peg, take down a peg lower, throw into the shade, cast into the shade, stare out of countenance, put out of countenance, put to the blush, confuse, ashame, mortify, disgrace, crush, send away with a flea in one's ear, get a setdown

Adj. humble, lowly, meek, modest, humble minded, sober- minded, unoffended, submissive, servile, &c. 886, condescending, affable, humbled, bowed down, resigned, abashed, ashamed, dashed, out of countenance, down in the mouth, down on one's knees, down on one's marrowbones, down on one's uppers, humbled in the dust, browbeaten, chapfallen, crestfallen, dumfoundered, flabbergasted, shorn of one's glory

Adv. with downcast eyes, with bated breath, with bended knee, on all fours, on one's feet, under correction, with due deference

Phr. i am your obedient servant, i am your very humble servant, my service to you, da locum melioribus, parvum parva decent

Modesty Roget’s Thesaurus §881

N. modesty, humility, diffidence, timidity, retiring disposition, unobtrusiveness, bashfulness, mauvaise honte, blush, blushing, verecundity|, self-knowledge, reserve, constraint, demureness, "blushing honors"

V. be modest, retire, reserve oneself, give way to, draw in one's horns, hide one's face, keep private, keep in the background, keep one's distance, pursue the noiseless tenor of one's way, "do good by stealth and blush to find it fame", hide one's light under a bushel, cast a sheep's eye

Adj. modest, diffident, humble, timid, timorous, bashful, shy, nervous, skittish, coy, sheepish, shamefaced, blushing, overmodest, unpretending, unpretentious, unobtrusive, unassuming, unostentatious, unboastful, unaspiring, poor in spirit, out of countenance, reserved, constrained, demure

Adv. humbly, quietly, privately, without ceremony, without beat of drum, sans fa on

Phr. "not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty", "thy modesty's a candle to thy merit"

Purity Roget’s Thesaurus §960

N. purity, decency, decorum, delicacy, continence, # chastity, honesty, virtue, modesty, shame, pudicity, pucelage, virginity, vestal, virgin, joseph, hippolytus, lucretia, diana, prude

Adj. pure, undefiled, modest, delicate, decent, decorous, virginibus puerisque, simon-pure, chaste, continent, virtuous, honest, platonic, virgin, unsullied, cherry

Phr. "as chaste as unsunn'd snow", "a soul as white as heaven", "'tis chastity, my brother, chastity", "to the pure all things are pure"