demure

Meaning

Adj

1. Modest, quiet, reserved, or serious.
2. Affectedly modest, decorous, or serious; making a show of gravity.

Verb

To look demurely.

Synonyms

modest

coy

decent

shy

bashful

humble

timid

grave

🪦

chaste

maidenly

overmodest

diffident

sober

milter

mincing

priggish

prim

prude

prudish

quiet

saturnine

sedate

serious

shamefaced

simple

solemn

staid

straitlaced

timorous

unassuming

unobtrusive

unpretending

well behaved

tight laced

burning

chary

coquettish

earnest

finical

finicking

gentle

important

matronal

matronly

meek

mild

Translations

modesto

réservé

recatado

ritroso

ernst

uslu

riservato

züchtig

pudico

zimperlich

gesittet

sittsam

discret

nüchtern

modeste

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: demure

In summary

Inherited from Middle English demure, demwre, an abbreviation of Anglo-Norman de mure port (“with a mature demeanor”) (compare Old French meur from Latin mātūrus):
*si il seyt coy e de mure port (Amur curteiz) (“he sits quietly and with a mature appearance”)
* Documents illustrating the history of Scotland, CLV, 1306, Orders for the custody of Scottish prisoners, CLV: …et que eles soient de bon et meur port (“…with a good and mature demeanor”)
* mss. Arundel, 220: ke cely qe vus amerez soyt de gentil manere, coy, de meure porture (“with a mature demeanor”)
* (Monastic rule): de aunciene dame de meure porture ke pusse les plus ieuenes rieueler e endoctriner (“an old lady with a mature demeanor able to rule and educate the young girls”).