- overcome with shame, guilt, or remorse
- (followed by of) suffering from feelings of inferiority or shame in relation to (a person, thing, or deed)
- (followed by to) unwilling through fear of humiliation, shame, etc
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
a•shamed /əˈʃeɪmd/USA pronunciation
adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- 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.
- See shame.
a•shamed
(ə shāmd′),USA pronunciation adj.
a•sham•ed•ly
(ə shā′mid lē),USA pronunciation adv.
a•sham′ed•ness, n.
- feeling shame; distressed or embarrassed by feelings of guilt, foolishness, or disgrace:He felt ashamed for having spoken so cruelly.
- unwilling or restrained because of fear of shame, ridicule, or disapproval:They were ashamed to show their work.
- 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
- 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.
- 1. 2. proud.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
ashamed /əˈʃeɪmd/ adj (usually postpositive)
'ashamed' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):