Word Study
sheepish
CIDE DICTIONARY
sheepish, a.
- Of or pertaining to sheep. [1913 Webster]
- Like a sheep; bashful; over-modest; meanly or foolishly diffident; timorous to excess. [1913 Webster]"Wanting change of company, he will, when he comes abroad, be a sheepish or conceited creature." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
sheepish, adj.
1 bashful, shy, reticent.
2 embarrassed through shame.
1 bashful, shy, reticent.
2 embarrassed through shame.
Derivative
sheepishly adv. sheepishness n.
THESAURUS
sheepish
abject, amenable, apologetic, asinine, blushful, blushing, bovid, bovine, caprid, caprine, compliant, contrite, cowish, cowlike, deerlike, docile, embarrassed, equestrian, equine, flushed, goatish, goatlike, hircine, hoggish, hoofed, horsy, humble, humbled, manipulable, meek, melted, mulish, obedient, ovine, passive, penitent, penitential, penitentiary, piggish, pliable, red, repentant, ruddy, ruminant, shamefaced, sheeplike, softened, swinish, timid, touched, tractable, ungulate, withdrawnROGET THESAURUS
sheepish
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.For further exploring for "sheepish" in Webster Dictionary Online