shameful
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
very bad or dishonest in a way that should make someone feel ashamed.
meriting disgrace or strong moral disapproval due to a violation of ethical or social standards.
Simple“The company's treatment of its oldest employees was truly shameful.”
In context“The investigation revealed a shameful pattern of corruption that had been ignored by the board for over a decade.”
PitfallI felt shameful about my mistake. I felt ashamed of my mistake.Use 'ashamed' to describe how a person feels. Use 'shameful' to describe the bad action or situation itself.
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
so bad that it is shocking or offends people's sense of what is right.
highly offensive or scandalous in nature; often used to describe public conduct or systemic failures.
Simple“It is shameful that so many people are still living in such poor conditions.”
In context“The politician's shameful remarks regarding the tragedy drew immediate condemnation from leaders across the globe.”
SynonymsAntonymsacceptablepraiseworthy
“They were, she said, her attempt to heal her disgust around sex , which she had been brought up to believe was dirty and shameful.”
“Photograph: BBC/Cinétévé/24 25 Films Télévisions/Domniki Mitropoulou Summed up in a sentence A tense, powerful thriller about an Afghan family and the shameful events of when the Americans withdrew and the Taliban moved in.”
From Middle English schameful, schamfull, from Old English *sċeamfull, sċeomfull, equivalent to shame + -ful. Cognate with Danish skamfuld (“shameful, shamefast, ashamed”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.