different between modest vs niggardly

English

Etymology

From Middle French modeste, from Latin modestus

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?d?st/

Adjective

modest (comparative more modest or modester, superlative most modest or modestest)

1. Not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's achievements; unpretentious, humble.
2. Small, moderate in size.

3. Pure and delicate from a sense of propriety.

4. (especially of behaviour or clothing) Intending to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:humble
• See also Thesaurus:intermediate
• See also Thesaurus:small

Antonyms

• immodest

Derived terms

• modest proposal
• modesty

Translations

Anagrams

• domets

Albanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?d?st/

Adjective

modest m (feminine modeste)

1. modest

Derived terms

• modesti

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin modestus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /mo?d?st/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /mu?d?st/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /mo?dest/

Adjective

modest (feminine modesta, masculine plural modests or modestos, feminine plural modestes)

1. modest

   Antonym: immodest

Derived terms

• modestament

Related terms

• immodest
• modèstia

Further reading

• “modest” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “modest” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “modest” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “modest” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo?dest/

Adjective

modest m or n (feminine singular modest?, masculine plural mode?ti, feminine and neuter plural modeste)

1. modest

English

Etymology

niggard +? -ly

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n???dli/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?n???dli/

Adjective

niggardly (comparative more niggardly, superlative most niggardly)

1. Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.

   Synonyms: miserly, stingy; see also Thesaurus:stingy

   • 1609, Joseph Hall, (paraphrasing Ambrose? in) "No Peace with Rome", in Josiah Pratt (editor), The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D. D., Vol. IX. Polemical Works, London, (1808), page 57:

     [W]here the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 47

     They were not niggardly, these tramps, and he who had money did not hesitate to share it among the rest.

   • 1958, John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society (1998 edition), ?ISBN, p. 186:

     This manifests itself in an implacable tendency to provide an opulent supply of some things and a niggardly yield of others.

Usage notes

• This term may cause offence, especially in the US, as it is easily confused with niggerly, an adverbial form of the racial slur nigger. The two words are etymologically unrelated.

Translations

Adverb

niggardly (comparative more niggardly, superlative most niggardly)

1. (now rare) In a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.
   • , New York 2001, p.105:

     because many families are compelled to live niggardly, exhaust and undone by great dowers, none shall be given at all, or very little […].

Translations

Further reading

• Controversies about the word "niggardly" on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References