humiliate

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.

• IPA^(key): /hjuːˈmɪliˌeɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

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humiliate (third-person singular simple present humiliates, present participle humiliating, simple past and past participle humiliated)

1. (transitive) To cause to be ashamed; to injure the dignity and self-respect of.

   Synonyms: debase, demean, disgrace, mortify, shame; see also Thesaurus:abash

   The bully tried to humiliate the other students during lunch.

   He would never intentionally humiliate anyone, even in jest.

   The harsh comments from the coach humiliated the player in front of the team.

2. (transitive) To make humble; to lower in condition or status.

   Synonym: humble

   Antonyms: dignify, honor

3. (transitive, sports, games) To defeat overwhelmingly.

• humble
• humiliation
• humility

• “humiliate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “humiliate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [hʊ.mɪ.liˈaː.tɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [u.mi.liˈaː.t̪e]

humiliāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of humiliō