bashfulness.

Shyness or self-conscious hesitation when receiving attention or dealing with others.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• natural bashfulness
• overcome bashfulness
• a trace of bashfulness

On the page

A sudden bashfulness kept him from acknowledging the compliment directly.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: usually uncountable; no ordinary plural. Writing functions: character, body language, social emotion. Commonness: moderately common. No fixed intensity assigned to all instances of the trait.