sheepishly
Americanadverb
Etymology
Origin of sheepishly
Explanation
Doing something sheepishly means expressing your embarrassment and shyness about it, like when you sheepishly admit how much you love watching soap operas on TV with your grandparents. When you think about how timid and shy a flock of sheep can be, the adverb sheepishly will make perfect sense. Anyone who acts in a way that betrays their shame and bashfulness is behaving sheepishly. You may smile sheepishly at your dad when he discovers you ate the last brownie or shrug your shoulders sheepishly when you teacher asks why you didn't finish your homework.
Vocabulary lists containing sheepishly
Ghost
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myPerspectives 8.1
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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.
I sheepishly assured my husband that was OK; we’d catch his next tour.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026
When he contacted the last person he knew had the strip, they sheepishly confessed to losing it.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
After a few minutes, a young woman walked outside; she sheepishly told me she was there only because of her mother, then climbed into the truck.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
“I don’t give myself a lot of consuming-time,” he acknowledges sheepishly.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
I grin at him, popping the balloon loudly, and shrugging sheepishly in explanation.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
