shamefaced

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: shame=faced

CIDE DICTIONARY

shamefaced, a. [For shamefast; AS. scamfæst. See Shame, n., and Fast firm.].

 Easily confused or put out of countenance; diffident; bashful; modest.  [1913 Webster]
" 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]
"Your shamefaced virtue shunned the people's prise."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

shamefaced, adj.
1 showing shame.
2 bashful, diffident.

Derivative

shamefacedly also adv. shamefacedness n.

Etymology

16th-c. alt. of shamefast, by assim. to FACE

THESAURUS

shamefaced

abashed, ashamed, bashful, blushing, chagrined, chapfallen, chastened, confused, conscience-smitten, conscience-stricken, conscious, coy, crestfallen, crushed, demure, diffident, discomfited, embarrassed, full of remorse, hangdog, humbled, humiliated, inarticulate, meek, modest, mortified, mousy, out of countenance, red-faced, regretful, remorseful, repining, rueful, self-accusing, self-condemning, self-conscious, self-convicting, self-debasing, self-effacing, self-flagellating, self-humiliating, self-punishing, self-reproaching, shamed, shamefast, shameful, sheepish, shy, skittish, sorry, stammering, timid, timorous, uncomfortable, unhappy about, wistful

ROGET THESAURUS

shamefaced

Modesty

N modesty, humility, diffidence, timidity, retiring disposition, unobtrusiveness, bashfulness, mauvaise honte, blush, blushing, verecundity, self-knowledge, reserve, constraint, demureness, blushing honors, modest, diffident, humble, timid, timorous, bashful, shy, nervous, skittish, coy, sheepish, shamefaced, blushing, overmodest, unpretending, unpretentious, unobtrusive, unassuming, unostentatious, unboastful, unaspiring, poor in spirit, out of countenance, reserved, constrained, demure, humbly, quietly, privately, without ceremony, without beat of drum, sans fa, not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty, thy modesty's a candle to thy merit.