humiliate

B2 Topic:Space, Position & Direction

US /hjuːˈmɪliˌeɪt/ See IPA manual

Freq #8913

Meanings

1

verb
To make someone feel ashamed or foolish, especially in front of other people.

The teacher humiliated him by reading his poor essay aloud to the class.
2

verb
To defeat someone completely and embarrassingly.

The home team was humiliated five to nil.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to make someone feel... humble degrade demean disgrace

Word family

Forms humiliatedhumiliates

Derived forms humiliatablehumiliatrixrehumiliate

Related forms humble humiliation humility

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin humiliātus, perfect passive participle of humiliō (“to abase, humble”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin humilis (“lowly, humble”), from humus (“ground; earth, soil”); see humble.

humilis Latin

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# humiliate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /hjuːˈmɪliˌeɪt/
**Frequency rank:** 8913

## Meanings
1. To make someone feel ashamed or foolish, especially in front of other people.
2. To defeat someone completely and embarrassingly.

## Examples
- The teacher humiliated him by reading his poor essay aloud to the class.
- The home team was humiliated five to nil.

## Derived Forms
- humiliatable
- humiliatrix
- rehumiliate

## Related Forms
- humble
- humiliation
- humility

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: humilis

## Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin humiliātus, perfect passive participle of humiliō (“to abase, humble”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin humilis (“lowly, humble”), from humus (“ground; earth, soil”); see humble.

## AI Etymology
Humiliate is borrowed from Late Latin humiliātus, perfect passive participle of humiliō (“to abase, humble”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin humilis (“lowly, humble”), from humus (“ground; earth, soil”); see humble. In current use, the main senses are “To make someone feel ashamed or foolish, especially in front of other people” and “To defeat someone completely and embarrassingly”.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction

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humiliate

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