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What is "shamefaced"

Crossword clues for shamefaced

shamefaced
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
shamefaced
adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ A shamefaced spokesperson admitted that mistakes had been made.
▪ He came to my office, shamefaced, to apologize.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And yet we are shamefaced about this.
▪ Jack had left her a shamefaced note with no explanation, a humble note.
▪ Preston had been quite keen when he started the project but now he felt a bit shamefaced about it.
▪ The spontaneity of the dancers ebbed away and they seemed almost shamefaced that their behaviour had been witnessed by their employers.
▪ When Hanka Zborowska arrived asking for her portrait Modigliani was shamefaced.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Shamefaced

Shamefaced \Shame"faced`\, a. [For shamefast; AS. scamf[ae]st. See Shame, n., and Fast firm.] Easily confused or put out of countenance; diffident; bashful; modest.

Your shamefaced virtue shunned the people's prise.
--Dryden.

Note: Shamefaced was once shamefast, shamefacedness was shamefastness, like steadfast and steadfastness; but the ordinary manifestations of shame being by the face, have brought it to its present orthography.
--Trench. [1913 Webster] -- Shame"faced, adv. -- Shame"faced`ness, n.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
shamefaced

"modest, bashful," 1550s, folk etymology alteration of shamefast, from Old English scamfæst "bashful," literally "restrained by shame," or else "firm in modesty," from shame (n.) + -fæst, adjectival suffix (see fast (adj.)). Related: Shamefacedly; shamefacedness.\n\nshamefaced, -fast. It is true that the second is the original form, that -faced is due to a mistake, & that the notion attached to the word is necessarily affected in some slight degree by the change. But those who, in the flush of this discovery, would revert to -fast in ordinary use are rightly rewarded with the name of pedants ....

[Fowler]

\n
Wiktionary
shamefaced

a. 1 bashful, showing modesty or embarrassment 2 ashamed, displaying shame, especially by blushing in the face.

WordNet
shamefaced

  1. adj. extremely modest or shy; "cheerfully bearing reproaches but shamefaced at praise"- H.O.Taylor

  2. showing a sense of shame [syn: sheepish]

  3. showing a sense of guilt; "a guilty look"; "the hangdog and shamefaced air of the retreating enemy"- Eric Linklater [syn: guilty, hangdog, shamed]

Usage examples of "shamefaced".

Babbington was indeed looking a little pale and anxious as the unseemly business came to an end, with the moaning Surel handed over to his shamefaced messmates and hurried away.

And visions of them, as he was accustomed to pass them in the lanes, slouching along with their straw bags, their hoes, and their shamefaced greetings, passed before him.

When they knew he heard them they looked shamefaced and turned away, but the soft-spoken words rang condemnatory in his ears and he was ashamed: he thought he failed his people.

Alvin and Mohammed were flanking the door to Sophie's room like massive Chinese foo dogs at the temple gates, looking not so fierce as shamefaced and contrite.

For many then it became a question of “right about, face” as the homeward shuffle of shamefaced prodigals began.

Shamefaced, she turned her back on the baboon and, hiding what she was doing with her body, she retwisted the wire.