ashamed

The word “ashamed” means feeling shame, embarrassment, or guilt over something one has done or been associated with. In plain terms, feeling bad about yourself because of something you did, or something connected to you.

“Ashamed” is pronounced uh-SHAYMD (/əˈʃeɪmd/ in IPA).

Here is “ashamed” used in a sentence: “He felt ashamed of how he had spoken to his sister.”

The opposite of “ashamed” — its antonyms — is proud.

“Ashamed” is an adjective.

The word “ashamed” comes from Old English. From Old English āscamian ("to feel shame"), built from a- (an intensifying prefix) plus "shame.".

“Ashamed” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

Embarrassed usually describes social discomfort, often minor and public, such as tripping in front of others. Ashamed is deeper: it involves shame or guilt over something you have done or been associated with, and it implies a moral judgment about yourself rather than mere awkwardness.

The standard preposition is of: you are ashamed of yourself or ashamed of a mistake. Ashamed about is heard informally, but of is the safer choice in writing, and before a verb the pattern is ashamed to, as in too ashamed to ask.

Feeling guilty centres on a specific act: you believe you did something wrong. Feeling ashamed centres on how the act reflects on you as a person, and it can also arise from things you are merely associated with rather than things you did.

Rarely. Ashamed is almost always used after a linking verb, as in she felt ashamed, and phrases like an ashamed look sound unnatural to most speakers. In this it behaves like afraid, asleep, and alike, which are also mainly predicative adjectives.