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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
"Mrs. Ford, the honest woman, the modest wife." [1913 Webster]

"The blushing beauties of a modest maid." [1913 Webster]
Evincing modestly in the actor, author, or speaker; not showing presumption; not excessive or extreme; moderate; as, a modest request; modest joy. [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Reserved; unobtrusive; diffident; bashful; coy; shy; decent; becoming; chaste; virtuous.

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

Modest, adj.
1 having or expressing a humble or moderate estimate of one's own merits or achievements.
2 diffident, bashful, retiring.
3 decorous in manner and conduct.
4 moderate or restrained in amount, extent, severity, etc.; not excessive or exaggerated (a modest sum).
5 (of a thing) unpretentious in appearance etc.

Derivative

modestly adv.

Etymology

F modeste f. L modestus keeping due measure

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THESAURUS

Modest

Olympian, aloof, altruistic, backward, bashful, becoming, betwixt and between, blank, boggling, budget, cheap, chilled, chilly, clean, cold, committed, common, consecrated, constrained, cool, coy, decent, decorous, dedicated, delicate, demeaning, demure, demurring, detached, devoted, diffident, disadvantaged, discreet, disinterested, distant, dry, dull, easy, economic, economy, elegant, expressionless, fair, fair to middling, fairish, faltering, forbidding, frigid, frosty, frugal, guarded, hesitant, hesitating, homely, humble, humble-looking, humble-visaged, humblest, icy, immaculate, impassive, impersonal, in the shade, inaccessible, inconspicuous, indifferent, inexpensive, inferior, infra dig, inglorious, innocuous, insipid, introverted, junior, lackluster, least, less, lesser, limited, low, low-priced, lower, lowest, lowliest, lowly, manageable, mean, mediocre, medium, meek, middling, minor, moderate, namby-pamby, nice, nominal, of a kind, of a sort, of sorts, offish, ordinary, passable, plain, poor, priggish, prim, prissy, proper, prudish, pure, puritanical, qualmish, reasonable, reluctant, remote, removed, repressed, reserved, respectable, restrained, restricted, reticent, retiring, sacrificing, scrupulous, second rank, second string, secondary, seemly, self-abasing, self-abnegating, self-abnegatory, self-conscious, self-denying, self-devoted, self-effacing, self-forgetful, self-immolating, self-neglectful, self-neglecting, self-renouncing, self-sacrificing, self-unconscious, selfless, sensible, servile, shabby, shoddy, shrinking, shy, silent, simple, small, so-so, spotless, squeamish, stainless, standoff, standoffish, stickling, straitlaced, stuffy, sub, subaltern, subdued, subject, subordinate, subservient, suppressed, teachable, tedious, temperate, third rank, third string, timid, timorous, token, tolerable, unacquisitive, unaffable, unambitious, unapproachable, unaspiring, unassertive, unassuming, unassured, unblemished, unboastful, uncongenial, undefiled, undemonstrative, underprivileged, understated, undistinguished, unelaborate, unembellished, unexaggerated, unexceptional, unexpansive, unexpensive, ungenial, unimportant, unimposing, unobtrusive, unornamented, unostentatious, unpossessive, unpresuming, unpresumptuous, unpretending, unpretentious, unselfish, unsparing of self, unsullied, vapid, vulgar, wishy-washy, withdrawing, withdrawn, within means, worth the money

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ROGET THESAURUS

Modest

Smallness

N smallness, littleness, tenuity, paucity, fewness, meanness, insignificance (unimportance), 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, 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, 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, dare pondus idonea fumo, magno conatu magnas nugas, small sands the mountain, moments make the year.

Purity

N purity, decency, decorum, delicacy, continence, chastity, honesty, virtue, modesty, shame, pudicity, pucelage, virginity, vestal, virgin, Joseph, Hippolytus, Lucretia, Diana, prude, pure, undefiled, modest, delicate, decent, decorous, virginibus puerisque, simon-pure, chaste, continent, virtuous, honest, Platonic, virgin, unsullied, cherry, as chaste as unsunn'd snow, a soul as white as heaven, 'tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity, to the pure all things are pure.

Humility

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, humble, lowly, meek, modest, humble minded, sober-minded, unoffended, submissive, servile, 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, with downcast eyes, with bated breath, with bended knee, on all fours, on one's feet, under correction, with due deference, I am your obedient servant, I am your very humble servant, my service to you, da locum melioribus, parvum parva decent.

Modesty

N modesty, humility, diffidence, timidity, retiring disposition, unobtrusiveness, bashfulness, mauvaise honte, blush, blushing, verecundity, self-knowledge, reserve, constraint, demureness, blushing honors, 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, humbly, quietly, privately, without ceremony, without beat of drum, sans fa, not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty, thy modesty's a candle to thy merit.

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