Definitions for shame
ʃeɪmshame

Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. shame(noun)

   a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt

2. shame, disgrace, ignominy(noun)

   a state of dishonor

   "one mistake brought shame to all his family"; "suffered the ignominy of being sent to prison"

3. pity, shame(verb)

   an unfortunate development

   "it's a pity he couldn't do it"

4. dishonor, disgrace, dishonour, attaint, shame(verb)

   bring shame or dishonor upon

   "he dishonored his family by committing a serious crime"

5. shame(verb)

   compel through a sense of shame

   "She shamed him into making amends"

6. shame(verb)

   cause to be ashamed

7. shame(verb)

   surpass or beat by a wide margin

Webster Dictionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Shame(noun)

   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

2. Shame(noun)

   reproach incurred or suffered; dishonor; ignominy; derision; contempt

3. Shame(noun)

   the cause or reason of shame; that which brings reproach, and degrades a person in the estimation of others; disgrace

4. Shame(noun)

   the parts which modesty requires to be covered; the private parts

5. Shame(verb)

   to make ashamed; to excite in (a person) a comsciousness of guilt or impropriety, or of conduct derogatory to reputation; to put to shame

6. Shame(verb)

   to cover with reproach or ignominy; to dishonor; to disgrace

7. Shame(verb)

   to mock at; to deride

8. Shame(noun)

   to be ashamed; to feel shame

Origin: [OE. shame, schame, AS. scamu, sceamu; akin to OS. & OHG. scama, G. scham, Icel. skmm, 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.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Shame

   Shame is, variously, an affect, emotion, cognition, state, or condition. The roots of the word shame are thought to derive from an older word meaning "to cover"; as such, covering oneself, literally or figuratively, is a natural expression of shame. Nineteenth century scientist Charles Darwin, in his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, described shame affect as consisting of blushing, confusion of mind, downward cast eyes, slack posture, and lowered head, and he noted observations of shame affect in human populations worldwide. He also noted the sense of warmth or heat occurring in intense shame. A "sense of shame" is the consciousness or awareness of shame as a state or condition. Such shame cognition may occur as a result of the experience of shame affect or, more generally, in any situation of embarrassment, dishonor, disgrace, inadequacy, humiliation, or chagrin. A condition or state of shame may also be assigned externally, by others, regardless of one's own experience or awareness. "To shame" generally means to actively assign or communicate a state of shame to another. Behaviors designed to "uncover" or "expose" others are sometimes used for this purpose, as are utterances like "Shame!" or "Shame on you!" Finally, to "have shame" means to maintain a sense of restraint against offending others while to "have no shame" is to behave without such restraint.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Shame

   shām, n. 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: (B.) the parts of the body which modesty requires to be concealed.—v.t. to make ashamed: to cause to blush: to cover with reproach: to drive or compel by shame.—adj. Shame′faced (properly Shame′fast, A.S. sceam-fæst), very modest or bashful.—adv. Shame′facedly.—ns. Shame′facedness, Shame′fastness, modesty.—adj. Shame′ful, disgraceful.—adv. Shame′fully.—n. Shame′fulness.—adj. Shame′less, immodest: done without shame: audacious.—adv. Shame′lessly.—n. Shame′lessness.—adj. Shame′-proof (Shak.), insensible to shame.—ns. Shā′mer, one who, or that which, makes ashamed; Shame′-reel, the first dance after the celebration of marriage, the bride being the best man's partner, the best maid the bridegroom's.—For shame, an interjectional phrase, signifying 'you should be ashamed!'—Put to shame, to cause to feel shame. [A.S. sceamu, scamu, modesty; Ice. skömm, a wound, Ger. scham.]

U.S. National Library of Medicine(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Shame

   An emotional attitude excited by realization of a shortcoming or impropriety.

British National Corpus

1. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'shame' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1561

2. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'shame' in Nouns Frequency: #1914

Anagrams for shame »

1. Ahems

2. Haems

3. Hames

4. Shema

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of shame in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of shame in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of shame in a Sentence

1. Ole Miss alumnus Kelly English:

   It's a damn shame.

2. Leon Wieseltier:

   Shame on The Museum.

3. Mehmet Murat ildan:

   Birdcage is a shame!

4. Peter Nunez:

   Shame on all of them.

5. Kevin Mullin:

   He let me down, it's a shame.

Images & Illustrations of shame

Popularity rank by frequency of use