- a painful feeling of having lost the respect of others because of the improper behavior, incompetence, etc. of oneself or of someone that one is close to or associated with
- a tendency to have feelings of this kind, or a capacity for such feeling
- dishonor or disgrace: to bring shame to one's family
- a person or thing that brings shame, dishonor, or disgrace
- something regrettable, unfortunate, or outrageous: it's a shame that he wasn't told
Origin of shame
Middle English from Old English scamu, akin to German schamtransitive verb
shamed, sham′ing- to cause to feel shame; make ashamed
- to dishonor or disgrace
- to drive, force, or impel by a sense of shame: shamed into apologizing
shame Idioms
for shame!
you ought to be ashamed! here is cause for shame!
put to shame
- to cause to feel shame
- to do much better than; surpass; outdo
shame on
shame should be felt by; this is shameful of
