ashamedness

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

a•shamed /əˈʃeɪmd/   adj. 

1. feeling shame: [be + ~ + of]
   He was ashamed of himself.
   [be + ~ + to + verb]
   She was ashamed to cry.
   [be + ~ + that clause]
   She was ashamed that she had failed the test.

a•sham•ed•ly /əˈʃeɪmɪdli/  adv. 
Usage

See shame.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

a•shamed  (ə shāmd′), adj. 

1. feeling shame; distressed or embarrassed by feelings of guilt, foolishness, or disgrace:
   He felt ashamed for having spoken so cruelly.
2. unwilling or restrained because of fear of shame, ridicule, or disapproval:
   They were ashamed to show their work.
3. Dialect Terms [Chiefly Midland U.S.] (esp. of children) bashful;
   timid.

• origin, originally past participle of earlier ashame (verb, verbal) to be ashamed, Middle English, Old English āscamian, equivalent. to ā- a-³ + scamian to shame bef. 1000

a•sham•ed•ly  (ə shā′mid lē), adv.  a•sham′ed•ness, n. 
Synonyms

• 1. 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.

Antonyms

• 1, 2. proud.