MEANING
To cause someone to feel embarrassed or disconcerted, especially by undermining confidence.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- abash a speaker
- be abashed by criticism
On the page
The unexpected praise abashed him more than the criticism had.
She was not abashed by the silence that followed her question.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- abash
- Past tense
- abashed
- Past participle
- abashed
- Present participle
- abashing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- abash
- Present continuous
- am/is/are abashing
- Present perfect
- have/has abashed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been abashing
- Past
- abashed
- Past continuous
- was/were abashing
- Past perfect
- had abashed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been abashing
- Future
- will abash
- Future continuous
- will be abashing
- Future perfect
- will have abashed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been abashing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: abash; abashes; abashed; abashed; abashing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: abashes.
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