shame
Definitions
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"'Shame on you all, to hit a helpless man!'" -
WordNet 3.6
- v shame surpass or beat by a wide margin
- v shame cause to be ashamed
- v shame compel through a sense of shame "She shamed him into making amends"
- v shame bring shame or dishonor upon "he dishonored his family by committing a serious crime"
- n shame an unfortunate development "it's a pity he couldn't do it"
- n shame a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt
- n shame a state of dishonor "one mistake brought shame to all his family","suffered the ignominy of being sent to prison"
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Additional illustrations & photos:
WHAT A SHAME
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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- Shame A painful sensation excited by a consciousness of guilt or impropriety, or of having done something which injures reputation, or of the exposure of that which nature or modesty prompts us to conceal. "HIde, for shame ,
Romans, your grandsires' images,
That blush at their degenerate progeny.""Have you no modesty, no maiden shame ?" - Shame Reproach incurred or suffered; dishonor; ignominy; derision; contempt. "Ye have borne the shame of the heathen.""Honor and shame from no condition rise.""And every woe a tear can claim
Except an erring sister's shame ." - Shame The cause or reason of shame; that which brings reproach, and degrades a person in the estimation of others; disgrace. "O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this!""Guides who are the shame of religion."
- Shame The parts which modesty requires to be covered; the private parts.
- v. i Shame To be ashamed; to feel shame. "I do shame To think of what a noble strain you are."
- Shame To cover with reproach or ignominy; to dishonor; to disgrace. "And with foul cowardice his carcass shame ."
- Shame To make ashamed; to excite in (a person) a comsciousness of guilt or impropriety, or of conduct derogatory to reputation; to put to shame. "Were there but one righteous in the world, he would . . . shame the world, and not the world him."
- Shame To mock at; to deride. "Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor."
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- Shame A painful sensation excited by a consciousness of guilt or impropriety, or of having done something which injures reputation, or of the exposure of that which nature or modesty prompts us to conceal. "HIde, for shame ,
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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- n shame A painful feeling or sense of degradation excited by a consciousness of having done something unworthy of one's own previous idea of one's excellence; also, a peculiar painful feeling or sense of being in a situation offensive to decency, or likely to bring contempt upon the person experiencing the feeling.
- n shame Tendency to feel distress at any breach of decorum or decency, especially at any unseemly exposure of one's person.
- n shame A thing or person to be ashamed of; that which brings or is a source or cause of contempt, ignominy, or reproach; a disgrace or dishonor.
- n shame Grossly injurious or ignominious treatment or acts; ignominy; disgrace; dishonor; derision; contempt; contumely.
- n shame The parts of the body which modesty requires to be covered.
- n shame Synonyms Mortification. Opprobrium, odium, obloquy, scandal.
- shame To be or feel ashamed.
- shame To be ashamed of.
- shame To make ashamed; cause to blush or to feel degraded, dishonored, or disgraced.
- shame To cover with reproach or ignominy; disgrace.
- shame To force or drive by shame.
- shame To shun through shame.
- shame To mock at; deride; treat with contumely or contempt.
- shame Synonyms To mortify, humilinte, abash.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- n Shame shām the feeling caused by the exposure of that which ought to be concealed, or by a consciousness of guilt: the cause of shame, a person or thing to be ashamed of: disgrace, dishonour:
- v.t Shame to make ashamed: to cause to blush: to cover with reproach: to drive or compel by shame
- n Shame shām (B.) the parts of the body which modesty requires to be concealed
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Quotations
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“Whatever is begun in anger, ends in shame.” -
“Let us not be ashamed to speak what we shame not to think.” -
“Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God.” -
“If a man fools me once, shame on him. If he fools me twice, shame on me.” -
“Damn the subjunctive. It brings all our writers to shame.” -
“Poverty is not a shame, but the being ashamed of it is.”
Idioms
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me - This means that you should learn from your mistakes and not allow people to take advantage of you repeatedly.
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Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
OE. shame, schame, AS. scamu, sceamu,; akin to OS. & OHG. scama, G. scham, Icel. skömm, shkamm, Sw. & Dan. skam, D. & G. schande, Goth. skanda, shame, skaman sik, to be ashamed; perhaps from a root skam, meaning to cover, and akin to the root (kam,) of G. hemd, shirt, E. chemise,. Cf. Sham
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
A.S. sceamu, scamu, modesty; Ice. skömm, a wound, Ger. scham.
Usage
In literature:
To this, add shame: shame to perform it quailed me, And was the second cause why vigour failed me.
"The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3)" by Christopher Marlowe
So, you see, I am nameless, a child of shame and sorrow.
"The Trail of '98" by Robert W. Service
I would put my life in any danger to win the love of the great Arthur, and to punish King Rience for his shameful message.
"King Arthur's Knights" by Henry Gilbert
Yes, we have all sought an escape in outer ceremony from the nemesis of our shameful deeds.
"My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year" by John Henry Jowett
May God confound me, ere my race I shame; But twenty thousand valiant knights I keep!
"La Chanson de Roland" by Léon Gautier
If attentions are close to courtesy, shame will be kept far.
"The Sayings Of Confucius" by Confucius
Shame.+ Shame is felt when one is inferior, or is conscious of being, or of being liable to be, unfavorably regarded.
"Folkways" by William Graham Sumner
I look back with shame and contrition on the old Constance.
"Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1905 to 1906" by Lucy Maud Montgomery
While they were at their breakfast on the shore, a deplorable figure, ashen-cheeked and shamed, came shuffling out of the bush.
"Two on the Trail" by Hulbert Footner
His shame would be her shame, his ignominy would be her ignominy.
"The Day of Judgment" by Joseph Hocking
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In poetry:
And best! Love comes back again
After grief and shame,
And along the wind of death
Throws a clean flame!
After grief and shame,
And along the wind of death
Throws a clean flame!
"The Approach" by Robert Nichols
And, best! Love comes back again
After grief and shame,
And along the wind of death
Throws a clean flame.
After grief and shame,
And along the wind of death
Throws a clean flame.
"The Day's March" by Robert Nichols
Stupid now with shame and sorrow,
In the night I hear him sobbing.
But sometimes he talks a little.
He has told me all his troubles.
In the night I hear him sobbing.
But sometimes he talks a little.
He has told me all his troubles.
"Suicide" by William Ernest Henley
But wi' a' that walth can borrow,
Guilty shame will ay look down;
What maun then shame, want, and sorrow
Wandering sad frae town to town!
Guilty shame will ay look down;
What maun then shame, want, and sorrow
Wandering sad frae town to town!
"The Waes O' War : Or The Upshot Of The History O' Will And Jean. In Four Parts" by Hector MacNeill
He stoutly claims me, for my crimes,
Since in my youth a thousand times
He won my soul; and to my shame,
God cannot but admit his claim.
Since in my youth a thousand times
He won my soul; and to my shame,
God cannot but admit his claim.
"The Unhappy State Of The Ungodly, After Death" by Rees Prichard
"But thou art too lovely and precious a gem
To be bound to their burdens and sullied by them—
For shame, Ellen, shame!—cast thy bondage aside,
And away to the South, as my blessing and pride.
To be bound to their burdens and sullied by them—
For shame, Ellen, shame!—cast thy bondage aside,
And away to the South, as my blessing and pride.
"The Yankee Girl" by John Greenleaf Whittier
In news:
There is no shame in being a C student.
I could not agree more with your recent editorial on the shameful attempt to change our voter rolls in favor of the Republican Party.
After three weeks of explosive testimony from the prosecution, the defense in the John Edwards ' campaign finance fraud trial took the stand and switched the focus from the shamed senator's sex life to monetary issues.
An incredibly shameful dog shaming.
The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and Shame.
When women seeking abortions face this kind of crowd, no wonder they feel shame.
(FOX SEARCHLIGHT) Michael Fassbender is a New York playboy who hides a secret "Shame".
It's a shame that the Detroit Tigers did not show up for the World Series because they could have made it quite a show.
Let go of the shame of losing your home.
'Shame' Punishments Like Ponytail Cutting Increase.
Rush Limbaugh Should Be Shamed Into Debating Rachel Maddow.
Celebrities shamed for partying at Clive Davis soiree while Whitney Houston's body was still in building.
Shamed by 'Name Withheld' Not.
Shamed , Yoshi's pulls CD, apologizes / Club hit sour note with lack of black musicians on record.
After Arrest, Town Shamed by '68 Killing Seeks Renewal.
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In science:
Indeed, they are so arcane that a naturalist perdurantist need feel no shame in being unable to accommodate them.
On the Persistence of Homogeneous Matter
Named and shamed: the worst government annual reports.
Open Data: Reverse Engineering and Maintenance Perspective
Ranganathan relates, matter of factly, the shameful indifference which met his decades-long attempts to have Ramanujan’s notebooks published.
And free lunch for all...
In a way, it is a shame that we could not make a more unqualified assertion—for instance, that a nontrivial tradeoff relation held for al l finite strength quantum measurements without feedback.
Information Tradeoff Relations for Finite-Strength Quantum Measurements
There’s no shame in this, it’s just the nature of computer technology.
Computational Asteroseismology
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