1A painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.

1. 1.1 A loss of respect or esteem; dishonor.
   the incident had brought shame on his family

   Example sentencesExamples

   • It does nothing to end the shame of racial discrimination.
   • Gwen do you want a brother who will most likely bring shame to your family or someone who cares?
   • Secondly, being convicted brought not only shame and dishonour on the accused, but on his wife and children as well.
   • If they flinch during the act, boys bring shame and dishonor to themselves and their family.
   • I didn't care if the world knew I'd killed him, but the shame would have been too much for Mum.
   • It conveniently also offered birth mothers and their babies second chances for normal lives, without the shame of being unwed and illegitimate.
   • A year went by, and the next summer saw them victorious, France at their feet and the shame of Versailles finally revenged.
   • They were anxious to bring forward their good reputation, and they stressed that the perpetrator's acts had brought shame and dishonour on them.
   • So where was the shame in open-ended government dependency?
   • In other words, they want to avenge history, to undo the shame of half a millennium ago with a reassertion of their glory today.
   • It brought such shame and dishonor to the entire family.
   • She would be ridiculed, not to mention the fact that she would bring great shame upon her family, for even being suspected of such things.
   • More importantly, it removes the shame of being human, because instead of Jesus the man embodying all that is good, Jesus the symbol represents the divine in each of us.
   • What about the shame of housing bright, eager international students in mould infested, decrepit residences?
   • Tan's mother, meanwhile, watched the grandmother commit suicide, unable to bear the shame.
   • We follow the inhabitants of one of the smaller districts, desperate to win after the shame of having lost for 25 years running.
   • Death in a holy cause could wash away the shame of divorce, infertility, or promiscuity.
   • There is not the rejection that you are not my son anymore, but at the same time the shame is there.
   • Perhaps even more important, severe maltreatment could bring shame and dishonour on the neighbourhood.
   • Throughout Damascene society, broken promises brought shame, dishonor, and various forms of ostracism and censure.

   Synonyms

   disgrace, dishonour, discredit, degradation, ignominy, disrepute, ill-repute, infamy, scandal, odium, opprobrium, obloquy, condemnation, contempt
2. 1.2 Used to reprove someone for something of which they should be ashamed.
   shame on you for dredging up such terrible memories

   for shame, brother!

   Example sentencesExamples

   • And lest you doubt their authenticity - shame on you - two of the members have studied Bulgarian folklore in the academic setting.
   • But shame on you for saying she is from Brentwood, La.
   • And for those who are leery of Canadian films and consider the phrase ‘good Canadian film’ an oxymoron, just shame on you.
   • It was an amazing show, and to all the people that missed it, shame on you.
   • I'm not naming any names, but you know who you are, Jamie, and shame on you.
   • A member of the International Socialists interrupted him, calling out, ‘shame on you for calling us on thinking, shame on you, this is supposed to be a university.’
   • I'd say shame on you, but I suppose you would think that quaint, too.
   • ‘Fool me once, shame on you,’ he starts the old adage, and then panic crosses his face.
   • To the man who canceled his cruise, shame on you - you worked for it, go and enjoy.
   • One, shame on you for missing their Toronto dates, and two, the band sympathizes with you.
3. 1.3in singular A regrettable or unfortunate situation or action.
   it is a shame that they are not better known

   Example sentencesExamples

   • It'd be such a shame to squander three seasons of blinding TV…
   • It is a shame to have such a situation in the present state of technological development.
   • It's just a shame to see the same ground being walked - there's got to be other topics that well-produced anime can address, but I'm still waiting.
   • There's plenty of funny stuff there, and it's kind of a shame to see this particular conceit, which has a lot of humorous potential, discarded so quickly.
   • I took jazz-singing lessons and the teacher told me that we could never take the country out of my voice, and that it would be a shame to do so.
   • It's a shame to throw them away or leave them in the back of a cupboard when they could go towards improving the lives of the many disadvantaged children in the UK.
   • It's a shame as they do contribute so much to the character of a place.
   • Either way, it would be a shame to miss this record.
   • I - you know, it's such a shame to see all of this because, you know, Paula is such a supportive judge.
   • It is a shame to miss the compendiousness and convincingness of the picture, of the crumbling - crummy - amalgam of dark and dry, of what is there and what is lost.
   • It's a shame to reveal the finely crafted intricacies of the plot, but the innovative details of Harry and Lucy's courtship demand sharing.
   • It's a shame to see it all play out in a movie that's mostly about making blandly obvious arguments about how bad and dishonourable racism is.
   • As with every truly well written story, it seems a shame to unravel all of the threads and to foreshadow all of the genuinely surprising twists in the plot.
   • It would be a shame to let one of the few real legal and democratic options available to British Columbians today slip by unrealised.
   • The principals are now engaged in a plot that it would be a shame to reveal, since much of the joy in watching this production comes from not knowing the ending.
   • The rainbow maki (known locally as a stampeder roll) is not only a great example, it's almost a shame to eat it because it's so lovely to look at.
   • It's a shame to dress the whole thing up in nationalism as well!
   • The two men share such synergy - especially in the more experimental storytelling style used in the last chapter - that it's almost a shame to consider them separately.
   • It would be a shame to bring home a bounty of lovely fashionable gifts and nothing suits her.
   • He really is that good here and it was a shame he did not win the Oscar.

   Synonyms

   pity, misfortune, crying shame, cause for regret, source of regret, sad thing, unfortunate thing
4. 1.4 A person, action, or situation that brings a loss of respect or honor.
   ignorance of Latin would be a disgrace and a shame to any public man

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I live in chagrin and with lovely little shames.
   • He remembered the way Buck had worn his first sweater, standing up tall and looking down at his chest, helpless to the giggling and the shame of wearing such an ugly outfit.
   • As historians have recently pointed out, the process of keeping family secrets and shames was one that implicated several generations and led to enormous stress for the children involved.
   • The colourful graffiti on many of the walls in Switzerland may be a shame to the locals but I would have loved to record my impressions of this ideal destination in such artistic abandon.
   • When will we profess our shames, diagnose our ills, write out our wrongs?
   • He describes a scene where the screams of the learner merged with his own self-loathing, a joint pain, and up he went, utterly without a centre, having spurted it all out in secret shames.
   • I was among them, marked with the shame of extra ‘handwriting’ lessons until I was 14.
   • The whole time, he carefully avoids looking at me as I struggle with the shame of crying in school over what looks like nothing more than a stupid locker.
   • Awarded the Military Cross, he took lives to save others, contributing to the ‘long-famous glories, immemorial shames of war’.
   • It's very much a book about a man remembering being a child, and it's very much about a man remembering the shames of being a child.
   • Eventually, the ideology de-evolved into an almost completely racist bent to all football bedlam (paving the way for one of punk's personal shames, the skinheads).
   • She trusted him with her secrets, even her shames.
   • Secret shames are divulged delicately, drawing viewers into the lives of the characters.

   Synonyms

   discredit to, disgrace to, stain on, blemish on, blot on, blot on the escutcheon of, slur on, reproach to, bad reflection on

1(of a person, action, or situation) make (someone) feel ashamed.

1. 1.1 Bring shame to.
   the entire debacle has shamed our community

   Example sentencesExamples

   • A 16-year-old boy who carried out two knifepoint robberies after smoking cannabis has been named and shamed by a judge.
   • Some of his distribution on the break this season, unfussy but nicely weighted, has shamed some celebrated backs.
   • Kevin said he was revealing his role as an agent in order to shame the British government into getting him out of Northern Ireland.
   • At her wedding, Claudio shames her by saying she is unfaithful.
   • Its military has shamed America with the torture in Abu Ghraib.
   • Supermarkets should be named and shamed for allowing more than 3,000 shopping trolleys to be dumped in rivers and canals every year, British Waterways have said.
   • In Jewish tradition, shaming people who misbehave is a last resort, not a first line of action.
   • Mr Felton urged the public to pick up rubber bands around their area so the Royal Mail is "shamed" into action.
   • Judge George Moorhouse said Barrett, of Lawrence Street, York, had let the church down and shamed himself.
   • Two more mums are planning to join the legal fight to shame Croydon Council in providing better funding for its schools.
   • Council chiefs hope the public will report drivers so they can be called in for questioning and shamed by the posters.
   • Basically they shame people into realising it's not the thing to do, dropping paper out-side their doors.
   • The bully pulpit is important, and Obama has actually been successful in shaming Wall Street corporate titans at the margins.
   • Local complaints rumbled on until the city was shamed into taking action by Towton, a tiny village near Tadcaster, which was said to have outshone York in 1997.
   • York was forced to surrender to Parliament and Prince Rupert was shamed.
   • Everybody please pray that I do not shame my family, my country, and/or my God.
   • Shamed by association, Kashua's relatives disowned her.
   • Bollinger and the rest of the Columbia administration had to be shamed into setting up the committee in the first place.
   • He puts to shame any legitimate causes in the domain name battle.
   • The British Prime Minister Tony Blair says they have shamed their country.
2. 1.2 Cause (someone) to feel ashamed or inadequate by outdoing or surpassing them.
   she shames me with her eighty-year-old energy

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Her skill at passing herself off as someone else would have shamed even James Bond.
   • Yet EU public opinion seems to have shamed even the French.
   • The sketches were of a beautiful woman, drawn with such perfection that would shame most artists.
   • If Mother were alive today, she'd put TV makeover shows to shame, for she excelled in transformation.
   • In fact, they are so cold a lot of cucumbers that they even shame the cold.

   Synonyms

   outshining, overshadowing, surpassing, excelling, outclassing, outstripping, outdistancing, outdoing, transcending, dwarfing, upstaging, shaming