What does "humblebrag" mean?

An ostensibly self-deprecating statement made to show off.

How do you pronounce "humblebrag"?

Pronounced //ˈhʌmbl̩ˌbɹæɡ//.

//ˈhʌmbl̩ˌbɹæɡ// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
An ostensibly self-deprecating statement made to show off. informal, slang
"I am as guilty as the next wannabe Overachieving Mom when it comes to the humblebrag Christmas letter. I can’t help it. It’s in my genes."

Verb

1
To make such a statement. informal, intransitive, slang, transitive
"After all, she writes, she was surrounded by “people who humblebragged about how little sleep they’d gotten the night before and used the phrases ‘lean and scrappy’ to describe not only our company culture, but themselves.”"

"I am as guilty as the next wannabe Overachieving Mom when it comes to the humblebrag Christmas letter. I can’t help it. It’s in my genes."

From humble + brag; coined by writer and comedian Harris Wittels (1984–2015), posted on Twitter in 2010.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.