shame
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ʃeɪm/
rhymes: -eɪm
Forms: form: shames
Etymology: From Middle English schame, from Old English sċamu, from Proto-Germanic *skamō.
Cognates
*German Scham (“shame”)
*German Low German Schaam (“shame, shamefacedness”)
*Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish skam (“shame”)
*Faroese skomm (“shame, dishonour”)
*Icelandic skömm (“shame”)
*Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌼𐌰 (skama, “shame”).
Senses: examples: text: When I realized that I had hurt my friend, I felt deep shame.
text: The teenager couldn’t bear the shame of introducing his parents.
text: When he had saied no: what (ſaid Ariſtippus) is it ſhame to ſaile in a Shippe, that hath afoꝛetymes caried a great nomber mo: […]
ref: 1564 February, Erasmus, “The Saiynges of Aristippus”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., Apophthegmes, that is to Saie, Prompte, Quicke, Wittie and Sentẽcious Saiynges, […], London: […] Ihon Kingston, →OCLC, book I, folio 43, verso, paragraph 42:
text: Have you no modesty, no maiden shame?
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: 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.
examples: text: It was a shame not to see the show after driving all that way.
text: Nor can thy ſhame giue phiſicke to my griefe,
ref: 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:
text: And what you do to me is a shame.
ref: 1977, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Shame:
text: But why does it always seem to be / Me lookin' at you, you lookin' at me / It's always the same, it's just a shame, that's all
ref: 1983 October 31, Genesis, “That's All”, in Genesis:
text: Time is running out, so I renounce a spin on a Class 387 for a fast run to Paddington on another Class 800 – a shame as the weather was perfect for pictures. Even so, it's enjoyable – boy, can those trains shift under the wires.
ref: 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:
glosses: Something to regret.
examples: text: […] because ye haue borne the shame of the heathen,
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 36:6:
text: Honour and shame from no condition rise.
ref: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
text: And every woe a tear can claim
 Except an erring sister's shame.
ref: 1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour:
glosses: Reproach incurred or suffered; dishonour; ignominy; derision.
examples: text: guides who are the shame of religion
ref: 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
text: 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 body, Rimmer's cheating frame.
ref: 1989, Grant Naylor, Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers:
glosses: The cause or reason of shame; that which brings reproach and ignominy.
examples: text: And he took fig-leaves and sewed (them) together, and made an apron for himself, and covered his shame.
ref: 1902, R. H. Charles, transl., The book of Jubilees, or The little Genesis, London: A. and C. Black, 3:22, page 26:
text: She turns to lift her robe, and lays it across her as though she were revealing her shame, as though she were naked.
ref: 1991, Martha Graham, Blood Memory, Washington Square Press:
text: She didn't even have her handbag, because Zelda had thoughtfully left it in the kitchen along with her clothes. And nobody had even offered her so much as a T-shirt to cover her shame.
ref: 2010, Jill Mansell, Millie's Fling, →ISBN:
text: The trouble started early this morning when Pop was shoving his shirt and vest into his pants so he could cover his shame, as he puts it.
ref: 2015, Marlene van Niekerk, Triomf, →ISBN:
text: His genitals lank between his legs, his chin dipped upon his breast, staring down at his shame.
ref: 2015, Marion Grace Woolley, Those Rosy Hours at Mazandaran, Ghostwoods Books, page 182:
glosses: That which is shameful and private, especially private parts.
examples: text: Don't you have any shame?
glosses: 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.
Synonyms: sense: uncomfortable or painful feeling
word: dishonor
sense: something regrettable
word: dishonor
sense: something regrettable
word: humiliation
sense: something regrettable
word: mortification
sense: something regrettable
word: pity
word: also: Thesaurus:shame
word: abasement
word: disgrace
word: dishonour
word: embarrassment
word: hurt
word: ignominy
word: obloquy
word: opprobrium
word: shame
word: unhonour
Derived terms: 15 minutes of shame
ain't no shame in my game
antishame
badge of shame
body-shame
cone of shame
cover-shame
crying shame
for shame
for shame's sake
hall of shame
no shame in my game
put to shame
shamefaced
shamefast
shameful
shamefully
shameless
shamelessly
shamelike
shame on you
shame plant
shame pole
shameproof
shame reel
shamesome
shame-stroke
shame upon you
shame weed
shameworthy
Spanish shame
that's a shame
there's no shame in my game
walk of shame
wall of shame
what a shame
Related terms: word: disrepute
word: embarrassed
word: abash