Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - modest

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A modest house or other building is not large or expensive. ...the modest home of a family who lived off the land... A one-night stay in a modest hotel costs around ?35. ADJ 2. You use modest to describe something such as an amount, rate, or improvement which is fairly small. Swiss unemployment rose to the still modest rate of 0.7%... The democratic reforms have been modest... ADJ • modestly Britain’s balance of payments improved modestly last month. ADV: ADV after v, ADV adj/-ed/adv 3. If you say that someone is modest, you approve of them because they do not talk much about their abilities or achievements. He’s modest, as well as being a great player... ADJ c darkgreen]approval • modestly ‘You really must be very good at what you do.’—‘I suppose I am,’ Kate said modestly. ADV: ADV with v 4. You can describe a woman as modest when she avoids doing or wearing anything that might cause men to have sexual feelings towards her. You can also describe her clothes or behaviour as modest. Asian women are more modest and shy, yet they tend to have an inner force... ADJ • modestly She sat down cautiously on the red canvas cushions, knees modestly together. ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj/adv