(a.) Restraining within due limits of propriety; not forward, bold, boastful, or presumptious; rather retiring than pushing one's self forward; not obstructive; as, a modest youth; a modest man.
(a.) Observing the proprieties of the sex; not unwomanly in act or bearing; free from undue familiarity, indecency, or lewdness; decent in speech and demeanor; -- said of a woman.
(a.) Evincing modestly in the actor, author, or speaker; not showing presumption; not excessive or extreme; moderate; as, a modest request; modest joy.
Example Sentences:
(1) Incubation with IFN alpha or IFN gamma for 24 h resulted in only modest cytokinetic alterations, and they did not modify the effects of FUra.
(2) The active agents modestly improved treadmill exercise duration time until 1 mm ST segment depression (3%), and only propranolol and diltiazem had significant effects.
(3) Brown's model, which goes far further than those from any other senior Labour figure, and the modest new income tax powers for Holyrood devised when he was prime minister, edge the party much closer to the quasi-federal plans championed by the Liberal Democrats.
(4) The standard varies from modest to lavish – choose carefully and you could be staying in an antique-filled room with your host's paintings on the walls, and breakfasting on the veranda of a tropical garden.
(5) Bupropion, in contrast, had a modest effect only in CD-1 mice.
(6) These data support a modest role for alpha 1-adrenergic coronary vasoconstriction during exercise but fail to document an additional role for postsynaptic alpha 2-adrenergic coronary vasoconstriction during exercise.
(7) Alterations in mean systolic blood pressure appeared to be modest, consisting of a 10 percent decrease from the control level, related to sedation, and a 10 percent rise from baseline during the procedure, associated with a concomitant mild tachycardia.
(8) The patient made modest improvement with high-dose intravenous steroids.
(9) Modest reductions in renal function as measured by clearances of inulin and p-aminohippurate occurred acutely only in the patients with renal impairment.
(10) Although the debate in the US has led to some piecemeal reforms – including the USA Freedom Act and modest policy changes – many of the most intrusive government surveillance programs remain largely intact.
(11) Ultimately, both Geffen and Browne turned out to be correct: establishing the pattern for Zevon's career, the albums sold modestly but the critics loved them.
(12) Simultaneous metabolic studies of human normal fibrinogen and asialofibrinogen in rabbits revealed only a modest decrease in the half-life of the asialoprotein compared to the intact protein, with no preferential uptake of the asialo-derivative by the liver.
(13) Levels of involvement in the program were modest, with only 16% of those screened having over 10 clinical contacts and 24% still involved after 3 months.
(14) Testosterone and estrogen administration at low or modest doses to individuals with the capacity to produce GH causes GH production and IGF-I levels to increase.
(15) The more modest effect of (n-3) fatty acid supplementation in decreasing LTB4 generation was not due to blockade of the cyclooxygenase pathway.
(16) The effect of volume expansion on sodium, calcium and magnesium remaining in the proximal tubule was relatively modest and not affected by furosemide.
(17) On the other side of the Atlantic, a more modest, quieter challenger plans to take on the US electric car giant.
(18) In conclusion, a zipper technique has been outlined that allows effective continuing drainage of the septic abdomen, permits early diagnosis of organ damage, is rapid and cost effective, minimizes ventilator dependency and gastrointestinal complications, is well tolerated by the patients, and has produced a modest 65 per cent survival rate in the first 34 critically ill patients in whom it was used.
(19) In order to improve the modest oral activity of PGE2 as an inhibitor of gastric acid secretion, analogs were prepared and tested orally in histamine-challenged rats.
(20) Specific binding of insulin did not differ between control and modestly insulinopenic diabetics but was increased significantly in the severely insulinopenic diabetics.
Timid
Definition:
(a.) Wanting courage to meet danger; easily frightened; timorous; not bold; fearful; shy.
Example Sentences:
(1) But my timid scrunch-face puts me so behind the curve that I might as well start training carrier pigeons.
(2) The Senate’s economic references committee accused Asic of missing or ignoring persistent signs of wrongdoing , characterising it as a “timid, hesitant regulator” that was too ready to uncritically accept assurances of a large institution that there were no grounds for intervention.
(3) Confirming that he would apply to be the next commissioner of the Met, he said: "I do not believe that the men and the women of the Met were timid, which is an accusation that has been levelled at us."
(4) When the police visited Rodger, whom Brown said deputies found “rather shy, timid and polite, well-spoken”, he played down any mental problems, telling police he was having difficulties with his social life and was planning to drop out of Santa Barbara City College.
(5) Like her bolder aunt Marine, the timid Maréchal-Le Pen complained that she suffered greatly from taunts at school that her grandad was a “fascist”.
(6) Photograph: AFP Saint Laurent became an object of immediate fascination: quiet, timid, with neatly parted schoolboy hair, anxious eyes lurking behind thick glasses and a frail body encased in a tight black suit.
(7) Free-born animals are very timid and show typical flight reactions.
(8) On the left, meanwhile, we feel our way towards a progressive alliance much more timidly, even when we know we’re sunk without it.
(9) It is suspicious of the SNP's rather timid version of independence, always being described as being about "the full powers of the parliament" – which is hardly a language or outlook for transformational change.
(10) This is an international problem demanding an international response, which so far has been desperately timid.
(11) Like Cameron, who is disappointing Eurosceptics with the timidity of his reform programme, the Swiss have been forced to accede to the realities of negotiating with a much bigger player.
(12) Endogenous depressives were found to have more pronounced changes on measures of dependence and timidity, but when change in mood state was partialed out only one of the dependence measures and timidity remained significant.
(13) This kind of contacts led to a social activation especially by schizophreniacs who had a lack of drive and seemed to be regressive, also caused an increase of drive and self-reliance by formerly timid, reserved girls.
(14) Romney also took several digs at Clinton’s foreign policy record, characterizing her time with the Obama administration as “timid”.
(15) Australia have a patchy squad, but its best elements are valuable and there had been no prospect that they would lose timidly.
(16) In opposition, we were too timid about making these bigger arguments.” He has calculated that government spending on housing benefit will be £120bn over the next five years, almost £50bn of which goes to private landlords.
(17) After only a few weeks in Chile, Pinochet is finding the charms of his native land - the compliant judges, the supportive generals, the timid politicians - are not what they used to be.
(18) The sanctions imposed by western states against Russia represent a timid hope that economic hardship will make Russians resent the regime and nudge them towards active protests.
(19) It is the bold agenda against the timid one; the visionaries against those who believe Labour can limp home with a few safe offerings that can fit safely on the back of a pledge card.
(20) The Liberal Democrats are undecided (Nick Clegg calls it "timid"), the crossbenchers unlikely to co-operate.