Meaning & use
humiliate
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Meaning
verbtransitive
To cause someone to feel deeply ashamed or lose dignity, especially when others are watching.
Grammar: Takes an object: humiliate someone. Often used in the passive: be humiliated by something.
Patterns
- humiliate someone
- humiliate someone in front of someone
- be humiliated by something
The coach's harsh criticism humiliated the young player in front of the whole team.
She felt humiliated when her mistake was pointed out during the meeting.
He tried to humiliate his opponent with a mocking joke, but it only made him look petty.
Word forms
| third person singular | humiliates |
|---|---|
| past tense | humiliated |
| past participle | humiliated |
| -ing form | humiliating |
Common combinations
- publicly humiliate
- The politician was publicly humiliated when the video went viral.
- humiliate someone in front of others
- Don't humiliate him in front of his friends.
- feel humiliated
- She felt humiliated after being corrected so sharply.
- utterly humiliated
- He was utterly humiliated by the defeat.
Synonyms and how they differ
- embarrass
- Embarrass is milder and often about awkwardness; humiliate suggests a stronger, more lasting loss of dignity.
- shame
- Shame can be used as a verb but often focuses on making someone feel guilty or dishonored; humiliate focuses on public embarrassment.
- degrade
- Degrade means to lower someone's status or dignity, often in a cruel or systematic way; humiliate is more about a specific humiliating event.
Opposites
Word family
- humiliation noun
- The feeling or act of being humiliated.
- humiliating adjective
- Causing someone to feel ashamed or foolish.
Commonly confused: humiliate or humble?
humiliate vs humble
Humble can be a verb meaning to make someone modest or lower their opinion of themselves; it is not the same as humiliate, which is about shame.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
The passive 'was humiliated' is correct because she experienced the feeling. Option 1 lacks an object or passive form. Option 3 is ungrammatical. Option 4 changes the meaning to 'she humiliated herself', which is possible but different and less likely in this context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “humiliate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.