Link Centre Dictionary

shame

UK/ˈʃeɪ̯m/ US/ˈʃeɪ̯m/ common
noun (3) verb (4)

noun

1.

a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt

2.

a state of dishonor

  • “one mistake brought shame to all his family”
  • “suffered the ignominy of being sent to prison”
Synonyms
3.

an unfortunate development

  • “it”
  • “t do it”
Synonyms

verb

1.

bring shame or dishonor upon

  • “he dishonored his family by committing a serious crime”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

compel through a sense of shame

  • “She shamed him into making amends”
3.

cause to be ashamed

4.

Origin

From Middle English schame, from Old English sċamu, from Proto-West Germanic *skamu, from Proto-Germanic *skamō.

Phrases

  • 15 minutes of shame
  • ain't no shame in my game
  • badge of shame
  • cone of shame
  • crying shame
  • for shame
  • for shame's sake
  • hall of shame
  • name and shame
  • tell the truth and shame the devil

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.