shame
Noun:
- A painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior: The emotion one feels when they have done something they believe is wrong, embarrassing, or inadequate.
- A loss of respect or honor; disgrace: A state of being dishonored or disgraced, often in the eyes of others.
- A regrettable or unfortunate situation: Used to express disappointment or pity about a situation.
Verb:
- To cause (someone) to feel shame: To make someone feel ashamed, humiliated, or embarrassed.
- To bring disgrace on; to dishonor: To cause a loss of respect or honor for someone or something.
- To force (someone) into action by causing feelings of shame: To compel someone to do something by making them feel ashamed if they do not.
Noun:
- He felt a deep sense of shame after lying to his friend. (He experienced a painful emotion of guilt.)
- The scandal brought shame upon the entire organization. (The scandal caused dishonor for the organization.)
- It's a shame you can't come to the party. (It is an unfortunate situation that you cannot come.)
Verb:
- Her harsh criticism shamed him into silence. (Her criticism made him feel so ashamed that he became silent.)
- His actions shamed his family's good name. (His actions dishonored his family's reputation.)
- They shamed the opposing team with a score of 10-0. (They defeated the other team by such a wide margin that it was embarrassing for them.)
"To put someone/something to shame": To be so much better than someone or something that it makes them seem inadequate.
- Her dedication puts the rest of us to shame. (Her dedication is so great it makes us feel inadequate.)
"Shame on you/him/her/them!": A strong expression used to tell someone they should feel ashamed for their behavior.
- Shame on you for speaking to her like that! (You should feel ashamed for speaking to her in that manner.)
"For shame!": An old-fashioned exclamation expressing strong disapproval.
- For shame! You know better than to act that way. (You should be ashamed! You know that behavior is wrong.)
Ashamed (adjective): Feeling shame or guilt.
- He was ashamed of his behavior. (He felt guilty about what he did.)
Shameful (adjective): Deserving or causing shame; disgraceful.
- It was a shameful act of betrayal. (It was a disgraceful act.)
Shameless (adjective): Showing a lack of shame; brazen.
- He told a shameless lie. (He told a lie without any embarrassment.)
- Noun: Disgrace, dishonor, humiliation, embarrassment, guilt.
- Verb: Humiliate, embarrass, disgrace, dishonor, mortify.
Shame into (doing something): To persuade someone to do something by making them feel ashamed if they do not.
- The public outcry shamed the company into changing its policy. (The public protest made the company feel compelled to change its policy due to shame.)
Shame out of (doing something): To deter someone from doing something by making them feel ashamed about it.
- Her friends tried to shame her out of spreading rumors. (Her friends tried to stop her from spreading rumors by making her feel it was shameful.)
A crying shame: A very great shame or pity.
- It's a crying shame that such a beautiful building was demolished. (It is a great pity that the building was destroyed.)
Have no shame: To be completely without shame; to be brazen or shameless.
- He has no shame—he'll ask for anything. (He is completely without embarrassment.)
Shame-faced: Showing shame through one's expression or demeanor.
- He gave a shame-faced apology. (He apologized while looking ashamed.)
- an unfortunate development
- it's a pity he couldn't do it
- a state of dishonor
- one mistake brought shame to all his family
- suffered the ignominy of being sent to prison
- a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt
- surpass or beat by a wide margin
- cause to be ashamed
- compel through a sense of shame
- She shamed him into making amends
- bring shame or dishonor upon
- he dishonored his family by committing a serious crime