Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Causing shame; disgraceful.
  • adjective Giving offense; indecent.
  • adjective Obsolete Full of shame; ashamed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Modest; shamefaced.
  • Full of shame; tinged or permeated with a feeling of shame.
  • That brings or ought to bring or put to shame; disgraceful; scandalous; as, shameful conduct.
  • Synonyms Dishonorable, disreputable, outrageous, villainous, heinous, nefarious.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Bringing shame or disgrace; injurious to reputation; disgraceful.
  • adjective Exciting the feeling of shame in others; indecent

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective causing or meriting shame or disgrace; disgraceful
  • adjective giving offense

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame
  • adjective giving offense to moral sensibilities and injurious to reputation

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

shame +‎ -ful

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Examples

  • Tonight, we're reporting on the president's blistering attack on what he calls shameful bonuses on Wall Street.

    CNN Transcript Jan 29, 2009 2009

  • Police say only a small number are indulging in what they call shameful behavior.

    CNN Transcript Jan 24, 2005 2005

  • He went on to give an emotional, blistering indictment of the Democrats and Republicans, both parties, for what he described as a shameful attempt, in his words, to conduct a shameless -- to walk -- let me get this quote right.

    CNN Transcript Mar 18, 2005 2005

  • The groups want Miyazawa to urge his guest formally to retract what they call the shameful "honorary white" label.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1992

  • Phyllis was for one hour haughty and unforgiving over what she called his shameful neglect and, for another, in a fever of unrest to see him.

    Crittenden A Kentucky Story of Love and War John Fox 1891

  • The move came after after an ill-tempered Scottish Cup replay at Celtic Park on Wednesday which he described as "shameful".

    BBC News - Home 2011

  • He added a hash tag to his tweet with the word "shameful."

    SI.com 2011

  • He added a hash tag to his tweet with the word "shameful."

    CNN.com 2011

  • The only thing shameful is the colossal failure of this weak president, his corrupt administration and the disgraceful democratic congress. gt

    DNC calls GOP fundraising letter 'shameful' 2009

  • What IS shameful is that too many people will support any kinda foolishness to soothe the gulps of hatefulness many often swallow in non-support of this administration.

    DNC calls GOP fundraising letter 'shameful' 2009

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