shame.

1. A painful feeling that oneself or one's conduct is exposed as unworthy or unacceptable.

2. Something regarded as dishonorable, or a regrettable situation.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• sense of shame
• burn with shame

On the page

Shame kept him from asking for help.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: shames.