Meaning & use
humiliation
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
A deep feeling of shame that comes from being made to look foolish or powerless, especially in front of others.
Grammar: Used without a before it: she felt humiliation.
Patterns
- humiliation at something
- the humiliation of doing something
He felt burning humiliation when the teacher read his mistakes aloud.
She could not hide her humiliation at being left out.
The team suffered public humiliation after the loss.
nouncountable
An event or action that makes a person feel disgraced and lowers their dignity.
Grammar: Can be counted: another humiliation.
Patterns
- a humiliation for someone
- suffer a humiliation
Losing by fifty points was a humiliation for the club.
She endured many small humiliations at the job.
The apology was a humiliation, but it had to be done.
Word forms
| plural | humiliations |
|---|
Common combinations
- public humiliation
- The coach avoided public humiliation of his players.
- suffer humiliation
- The champions suffered humiliation in the final.
- deep humiliation
- Deep humiliation kept her from speaking.
- sense of humiliation
- There was a sense of humiliation in the room.
- avoid humiliation
- He lied to avoid humiliation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- embarrassment
- Embarrassment is milder and can be self-caused, while humiliation involves deep shame and often someone else's actions.
- disgrace
- Disgrace describes lost reputation, whereas humiliation is the painful feeling in the moment.
- mortification
- Mortification is slightly more formal and describes intense shame or embarrassment.
- degradation
- Degradation stresses being treated as worthless and can describe long-term conditions.
Opposites
Word family
- humiliate verb
- to make someone feel ashamed in front of others
- humiliating adjective
- causing shame and loss of dignity
- humiliated adjective
- feeling or made to feel shame
- humility noun
- a modest view of your own importance
Commonly confused: humiliation or humility?
humiliation vs humility
Humility is a quiet modesty and is positive; humiliation is a painful experience of shame.
Practice
Being laughed at by the whole class was a ______ for her.
Choose one answer.
Humiliation fits a shameful public event. Humility is tempting but means modesty, which does not describe being laughed at.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “humiliation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.