abashed
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of abashed
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at abash, -ed 2
Explanation
If you feel abashed, you're embarrassed and a little uneasy. People feel abashed when they're caught in a lie, or make a mistake, or suddenly feel self-conscious for some reason. Feeling abashed isn't quite as painful as feeling ashamed, but it's close. When you're abashed, you're not feeling confident or strong: you're a little shaken up and taken aback. You feel embarrassed or chagrined. This is a word for a self-conscious, uneasy feeling––think caught with your hand in the cookie jar or your drinking out of the milk carton in the middle of the night.
Vocabulary lists containing abashed
The Alchemist
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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It must have slipped my mind...
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s a persuasive picture of a working artist, often fretting about money and trying to leverage his connections, and the actor makes the most of Hujar’s amusing, slightly abashed discursiveness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025
“We have quite a lot of work to do,” Chiappe says, looking somewhat abashed.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 15, 2024
Jarreau continues and Belafonte remains slightly abashed until his smile broadens, as if he's accepting his signature tune's supernaturally unifying power.
From Salon • Apr. 26, 2023
He said: "We are not going to be in any way deterred or abashed by some of the criticism that is being directed upon this policy, some of it from slightly unexpected quarters."
From BBC • Jun. 14, 2022
At any rate this speech abashed and terrified him.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
