FromMiddle Englishabaisshment, fromMiddle Frenchabaissement(“astonishment”) alteration ofesbaissement, fromesbaiss +-ment.[1] CompareFrenchébahissement. Equivalent toabash +-ment.
abashment (countable anduncountable,pluralabashments)
- The state of beingabashed; embarrassment fromshame.[First attested from 1350 to 1470.][2]
1768,Henry Brooke, chapter 13, inThe Fool of Quality[2], volume 3, Dublin, pages35–36:On my appearing her Spirits again took the Alarm. She scarce ventured a Glance toward me. I was greatly pained by theAbashment under which I saw she laboured, and I hastened to relieve myself as well as her from the Distress.
1940,Richard Wright,Native Son[3], London: Jonathan Cape, published1970,Book 2, p. 185:“Did he say he would let you meet some white women if you joined the reds?”
He knew that sex relations between blacks and whites were repulsive to most white men.
“Nawsuh,” he said, simulatingabashment.
2014,Don Gutteridge, chapter 8, inDeath of a Patriot[4], New York: Simon & Schuster, page104:[…] Marc, who well knew the pangs andabashments of romantic love, recognized the emotions here as genuine and heartfelt and was encouraged.
the state of being abashed; confusion from shame
- Bulgarian:засраменост(zasramenost),смущение (bg)(smuštenie)
- Dutch:verlegenheid (nl) f,moeilijk parket
- Finnish:häpeä (fi),hämminki (fi)
- Irish:cotadh m
- Italian:confusione (it),imbarazzo (it),turbamento (it)
- Manx:nearey f
- Polish:zmieszanie (pl) n,zakłopotanie (pl) n
- Portuguese:confusão (pt),vergonha (pt)
- Romanian:jenă (ro) f,rușine (ro) f,rușinare (ro) f
- Russian:расте́рянность (ru) f(rastérjannostʹ),смуще́ние (ru) n(smuščénije),замеша́тельство (ru) n(zamešátelʹstvo)
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- ^Philip Babcock Gove (editor),Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909],→ISBN), page 2
- ^Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abashment”, inThe Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.:Oxford University Press,→ISBN, page 2.
