Self-depreciating

//ˌsɛlfˈdɪˈpɹiːʃɪeɪtɪŋ// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of self-depreciate form-of, gerund, participle, present
Adjective
  1. 1
    Expressing disapproval of oneself.

    "A self-depreciating career isn't a good one."

Example

More examples

"Tom was worried that Mary's words were indirectly aimed at him, but in truth she was only talking about herself in a self-depreciating manner."

Etymology

From self- + depreciating. Commonly used until the 1980s, when self-deprecating surpassed it, and is a minor variant today.

More for "self-depreciating"

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