ashamed

[uh-sheymd]

adjective

1. feeling shame; distressed or embarrassed by feelings of guilt, foolishness, or disgrace.

   He felt ashamed for having spoken so cruelly.

   Antonyms: proud

2. unwilling or restrained because of fear of shame, ridicule, or disapproval.

   They were ashamed to show their work.

   Antonyms: proud

3. Chiefly Midland U.S.,  (especially of children) bashful; timid.

ashamed

/ əˈʃeɪmd, əˈʃeɪmɪdlɪ /

adjective

1. overcome with shame, guilt, or remorse

2. (foll by of) suffering from feelings of inferiority or shame in relation to (a person, thing, or deed)

3. (foll by to) unwilling through fear of humiliation, shame, etc

Other Word Forms

• ashamedly adverb
• ashamedness noun
• half-ashamed adjective
• half-ashamedly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of ashamed¹

First recorded before 1000; originally past participle of earlier ashame (verb) “to be ashamed,” Middle English, Old English āscamian, equivalent to ā- a prefix + scamian “to shame”; a- ³, shame

Word History and Origins

Origin of ashamed¹

Old English āscamod, past participle of āscamian to shame, from scamu _shame

Synonym Study

Ashamed, humiliated, mortified refer to a condition or feeling of discomfort or embarrassment. Ashamed focuses on the sense of one's own responsibility for an act, whether it is foolish, improper, or immoral: He was ashamed of his dishonesty. She was ashamed of her mistake. Humiliated stresses a feeling of being humbled or disgraced, without any necessary implication of guilt: He was humiliated by the king. Both words are used equally in situations in which one is felt to be responsible for the actions of another: Robert felt humiliated by his daughter's behavior. Mom was ashamed of the way I looked. Mortified represents an intensification of the feelings implied by the other two words: She was mortified by her clumsiness.

Example Sentences

As Victoria tells David in the final moments of the docuseries, “I’m proud and I’m not ashamed to say that I’m ambitious, and I’ve still got a lot that I wanna do.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"I want to say to them to never be ashamed of what was inflicted upon us, because it is not their fault," she said.

Read more on BBC

“As a former player, Captain, and as an American, I am ashamed,” Watson wrote.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

“Rather than feeling ashamed about our hypocrisy, we should embrace the opportunity to learn to do better next time,” she says.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Its fuel economy—21 mpg, combined—nothing to be ashamed of.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• apologetic 
• bashful 
• contrite 
• distraught 
• distressed 
• embarrassed www.thesaurus.com
• guilty 
• hesitant 
• humble 
• humbled 
• humiliated 
• regretful 
• reluctant 
• repentant 
• shy 
• sorry