Serving the Lord with all humility of mind. --Acts
xx. 19.
2. An act of submission or courtesy.
With these humilities they satisfied the young king.
--Sir J.
Davies.
Syn: Lowliness; humbleness; meekness; modesty; diffidence.
Usage: {Humility}, {Modesty}, {Diffidence}. Diffidence is a
distrust of our powers, combined with a fear lest our
failure should be censured, since a dread of failure
unconnected with a dread of censure is not usually
called diffidence. It may be carried too far, and is
not always, like modesty and humility, a virtue.
Modesty, without supposing self-distrust, implies an
unwillingness to put ourselves forward, and an absence
of all over-confidence in our own powers. Humility
consists in rating our claims low, in being willing to
waive our rights, and take a lower place than might be
our due. It does not require of us to underrate
ourselves.