Humility is a difficult word to define in a modern context, similar to how pride has multiple meanings.
The dictionary definition of humility, via Google, leans heavily on the meaning of its root word, humble: a modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness.
If you look at Merriam-Webster, the definition for humility actually gets more explicit in drawing a contrast with pride: freedom from pride or arrogance : the quality or state of being humble.
But even this second definition doesn’t capture the more evolved, nuanced definition of humility that I have come to understand and use.
For that, I’ll reference the definition that Ed Hess and Katherine Ludwig use in their book Humility is the New Smart:
We define Humility as a mindset about oneself that is open-minded, self-accurate, and “not all about me,” and that enables one to embrace the world as it “is” in the pursuit of human excellence.”
Humility is the new smart
Now, you might say that such a definition expands the meaning of the word too far beyond how it’s actually defined, but I think that’s the fault of the overly simplistic dictionary definitions.
This definition is actually much more useful and accurate given how the term humility has come to be used in a modern context.
