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🇯🇵Japanese Source WordCode: JA

控えめな

Pronunciation / Transliteration: hikaemena

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Unassuming/ˌʌn.əˈsjuː.mɪŋ/
adjectiveCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #4500 frequency
Full Thesaurus
🇯🇵 Example Sentence in Japanese:

"彼は非常に控えめな人柄の持ち主だ。"

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As adjective
  1. 1

    Not arrogant or showy; modest and unpretentious.

    "Despite his enormous wealth, he lived in an unassuming house in the suburbs."
  2. 2

    Inconspicuous or unobtrusive in appearance or character.

    "The restaurant has an unassuming exterior that hides its world-class kitchen."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The word is formed from the English negative prefix 'un-' combined with 'assuming', which derives from the verb 'assume' (from Latin 'assumere', meaning 'to take to oneself' or 'claim'). Over time, 'assuming' developed the secondary sense of being arrogant or presumptuous, leading 'unassuming' to mean free from pretension, arrogance, or affectation.

Quick Vocabulary Retention Check

Which of the following is the closest synonym for "Unassuming"?

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Thesaurus & Synonyms Graph

Explore Nuanced Synonyms for "Unassuming"

Discover exact matches, context-specific alternatives, and antonyms with intensity ratings in the VocabDictionary Thesaurus.

View "Unassuming" Synonym Map
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