ppl. a. [UN-1 10.] Free from assumption; unpretentious: a. Of persons.
1726. Thomson, Winter, 772. See now the cause, Why unassuming worth in secret liv’d, And dy’d, neglected.
1780. Mirror, No. 90. In his manners simple and unassuming.
1839. Dickens, Nickleby, xviii. A very unassuming young woman.
1862. Calverley, Verses & Transl. (ed. 2), 49. Once, an unassuming Freshman Through these wilds I wandered on.
b. Of character or manners.
1796. Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, IV. 401. His character [was] unassuming.
1797. S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T. (1799), I. 369. The unassuming and simple dignity of Lothaire.
1805. Southey, in Ann. Rev., III. 570. A gentleman of unassuming talents.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), II. 392. He walks about on the sea shore in an unassuming way.
c. Of things.
1805. Wordsw., Prelude, XIII. 46. The unassuming things that hold A silent station in this beauteous world.
1838. Lytton, Alice, I. v. The expensive, yet unassuming robe de soie.
1896. Mrs. Caffyn, Quaker Grandmother, 146. Stopping to hit at the blackened unassuming remains of a dock.
Hence Unassumingness.
Also, in recent use, unassumingly adv.
1768. Woman of Honor, I. 48. An unassumingness, which was the result of most perfect modesty.
1799. Southey, in Robberds, Mem. W. Taylor (1843), I. 303. Davy is a surprising young man, and one who, by his unassumingness,… soon conciliates our affections.
1830. G. P. R. James, Darnley, xxi. A sort of unassumingness, which seemed to hold his own high qualities as light, silenced much envy.
1876. Mrs. Whitney, Sights & Insights, xii. 124. That unassumingness which is conscious of nothing to assume.
