ashamed
Americanadjective
-
feeling shame; distressed or embarrassed by feelings of guilt, foolishness, or disgrace.
He felt ashamed for having spoken so cruelly.
- Antonyms:
- proud
-
unwilling or restrained because of fear of shame, ridicule, or disapproval.
They were ashamed to show their work.
- Antonyms:
- proud
-
Chiefly Midland U.S. (especially of children) bashful; timid.
adjective
-
overcome with shame, guilt, or remorse
-
(foll by of) suffering from feelings of inferiority or shame in relation to (a person, thing, or deed)
-
(foll by to) unwilling through fear of humiliation, shame, etc
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ashamed
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”; see origin at a- 3, shame
Explanation
When you have done something you know you shouldn't have, or just something embarrassing, you feel ashamed, or remorseful. Don't be ashamed of your unusual dance moves — you were the life of the party! The word ashamed has, in some form, been around since before the 11th Century. You might feel less ashamed of your mistakes if you're able to learn from them. As Jonathan Swift put it, "A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying... that he is wiser today than yesterday."
Vocabulary lists containing ashamed
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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.
When Bill first saw her small, shabby, mildewed lab space, she was momentarily ashamed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Marie-Hélène says that for years she felt ashamed.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
So light up that candle, lock the doors and bring the tissues if you have to — just don’t be ashamed to feel all the feels, or shake your booty if the mood strikes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
"I would be ashamed to have written any part of this," Wilson argued in the London Review of Books, adding it "lacks many of the elements that make the poem great".
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
He’s the one who should be ashamed, and he must see this in my face, because the heavy blond brows beneath his cap drop down into a scowl.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
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.
