abash

American  

[uh-bash] / əˈbæʃ /

verb (used with object)

1. to destroy the self-confidence, poise, or self-possession of; disconcert; make ashamed or embarrassed.

   to abash someone by sneering.

   Synonyms:

   embarrass, discompose, shame

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abash British  

/ əˈbæʃ /

verb

1. (tr; usually passive) to cause to feel ill at ease, embarrassed, or confused; make ashamed

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Other Word Forms

• abashment noun

Etymology

Origin of abash

1275–1325; Middle English abaishen < dialectal Old French abacher, Old French abaissier to put down, bring low ( abase ), perhaps conflated with Anglo-French abaiss-, long stem of abair, Old French esba ( h ) ir to gape, marvel, amaze ( es- ex- ¹ + -ba ( h ) ir, alteration of baer to open wide, gape < Vulgar Latin *batāre; bay ², bay ³ )

Example Sentences

In between, the noise quotient would abash a pneumatic drill.

From Time Magazine Archive

Friends made in the Young Men's Bible Class at his uncle's church abash his rusticity, put him in touch with the spirit of the time, to Succeed.

From Time Magazine Archive

Major scenes are Ivan's coronation; his destruction of the Tartar city of Kazan; his rising from his supposed deathbed to abash those who are plotting against his son's succession.

From Time Magazine Archive

Similarly, a satirical rebuke sometimes serves to abash a person who has an exalted opinion of himself.

From Moral Theology A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities by Callan, Charles Jerome

But of my bright blee, sirs, abash ye not!

From Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse by Various