shame

Noun

shame (usually uncountable, plural shames)

1. (usually) An uncomfortable or painful feeling due to recognition or consciousness of one's own impropriety or dishonor, or something being exposed that should have been kept private.
   • When I realized that I had hurt my friend, I felt deep shame.
   • The teenager couldn’t bear the shame of introducing his parents.

   Synonyms:

   dishonor

2. (usually) Something to regret.
   • It was a shame not to see the show after driving all that way.
   • Nor can thy ſhame giue phiſicke to my griefe,1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 34”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   dishonor, humiliation, mortification, pity

3. (usually) Reproach incurred or suffered; dishonour; ignominy; derision.
   • […] because ye haue borne the shame of the heathen,1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 36:6
   • Honour and shame from no condition rise.1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC
4. (usually) The cause or reason of shame; that which brings reproach and ignominy.
   • guides who are the shame of religion1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London
   • Rimmer ducked his body low into his chair, so just his head remained above the table top, and peered past the backs of the examinees in front of him, waiting for the adjudicator to make his move. Waiting for him to leap forward and rip off his flimsy flightsuit, exposing his shame: his illustrated...1989, Grant Naylor, Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
5. (usually) That which is shameful and private, especially private parts.
   • And he took fig-leaves and sewed (them) together, and made an apron for himself, and covered his shame.1902, R. H. Charles, transl., The book of Jubilees, or The little Genesis, London: A. and C. Black, 3:22, page 26
   • She turns to lift her robe, and lays it across her as though she were revealing her shame, as though she were naked.1991, Martha Graham, Blood Memory, Washington Square Press
6. (usually) The capacity to be ashamed, inhibiting one from brazen behaviour; due regard for one's own moral conduct and how one is perceived by others; restraint, moderation, decency.
   • Don't you have any shame?

Interjection

1. A cry of admonition for the subject of a speech, either to denounce the speaker or to agree with the speaker's denunciation of some person or matter; often used reduplicated, especially in political debates.
   • Mr John Golding: One would not realise that it came from the same Government, because in that letter the Under-Secretary states: "The future of BT's pension scheme is a commercial matter between BT, its workforce, and the trustees of the pensions scheme, and the Government cannot give any...1982, “Telecommunications Bill”, in Hansard
   • […] the Duke of Dorset charged in the list with "not known, but supposed forty thousand per year" (charitable supposition) had when formerly in office only about 3 or £4,000, and has not now, nor when the black list was printed, any office whatever — (Much tumult, and cries of "shame" and "doust...1831, The Bristol Job Nott; or, Labouring Man's Friend

Adjective

shame (comparative more shame, superlative most shame)

1. (Australian) Embarrassed and shy, particularly because one is the subject of attention.
   • She says that she doesn't touch them, this is important, sometimes maybe a handshake may make them more shame, that is shy or embarrassed.1998, Robyn Lynn, Rosamund Thorpe, Debra Miles with Christine Cutts, Anne Butcher, Linda Ford, 'Murri way!': Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders reconstruct social welfare practice, Centre for...
   • Int.[:] What types of things have you learnt about at AIME, like about yourselves or about others?
     Deon[:] To be confident.
     Greg[:] Yeah be confident. And not be shame…2018, Anthony McKnight, Valerie Harwood, Samantha McMahon, Amy Priestly, Jake Trindorfer, “'No shame at AIME': listening to Aboriginal philosophy and methodologies to theorise shame in educational...
2. (Australian) Causing embarrassment or shyness.
   • "A lot of the time when we want to do stuff we'll be like, 'Oh no, that's shame — I don't want to do that because I'll be on my own'," Headland told NIT.2021 June 1, “Danielle Headland seeking to inspire future Indigenous health workers”, in National Indigenous Times

Verb

shame (third-person singular simple present shames, present participle shaming, simple past and past participle shamed)

1. (transitive) To cause to feel shame.
   • I was shamed by the teacher's public disapproval.
   • Were there but one righteous in the world, he would[…]shame the world, and not the world him.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London

   Synonyms:

   abash, demean, humiliate, insult, mortify, confound

2. (transitive) To cover with reproach or ignominy; to dishonor; to disgrace.
   • And with fowle cowardize his carcas ſhame,1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 295
3. (transitive) To denounce as having done something shameful; to criticize with the intent or effect of causing a feeling of shame.
   • Stop shaming others about their food choices.
   • It is disgraceful that you should be used by adults for the purpose of trying to shame us because our extraction of timber from our forests.1987 August 15, Mahathir Mohamad, Mahathir Mohamad's letter to Darrell Abercrombie
4. (transitive) To drive or compel by shame.
   • The politician was shamed into resigning.
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To feel shame, be ashamed.
   • Broder she said I can not telle yow For it was not done by me nor by myn assente
     For he is my lord and I am his
     and he must be myn husband
     therfore my broder I wille that ye wete I shame me not to be with hym
     nor to doo hym alle the pleasyr that I can1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XXII, in Le Morte Darthur, book VII
   • I do ſhame to thinke of what a noble ſtraine you are, and of how coward a ſpirit.c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry...
6. (obsolete, transitive) To mock at; to deride.
   • Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 14:6