shame

«shame» in Mova's school dictionary: the bad, hot feeling you have when you know you did… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (shame, uncountable; a shame); verb (shame, shames, shamed, shaming)

meaning for a pupil

1) Shame is the bad, hot feeling you have when you know you did something wrong or silly and others may know. tree →

2) «It's a shame» or «what a shame» means it is sad or a pity. tree →

3) To shame someone is to make them feel bad or embarrassed, often in front of others. tree →

4) «Shame on you» is a way of telling someone they behaved badly. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories about feelings, a character feels shame after lying or cheating and wants to hide; owning up often makes shame go away. In everyday talk «It's a shame» just means «that's sad»: «It's a shame it rained». In safety and kindness lessons: we should not shame others, and a child who is hurt or tricked has nothing to be ashamed of.

examples

• He felt shame when he saw the vase he had broken. tree →
• It's a shame you can't come to the party. tree →
• What a shame the zoo was closed! tree →
• Shame on you for teasing your little brother! tree →
• She hung her head in shame. tree →
• Making fun of someone to shame them is unkind. tree →
• There is no shame in asking for help. tree →
• His good mark shamed the others into working harder. tree →
• Oh, I shall die of shame and despair!’ tree →

note

Shame is usually uncountable as a feeling («full of shame»), but «a shame» means a pity. The adjective is «ashamed» (I am ashamed), not «shamed». «Shameful» means very bad; «shameless» means without shame. Shame is different from «embarrassment», which can be about small accidents that are not wrong.

In the corpora

• Some families use a food bank for a while, which is help, not shame.
• Parents and carers use soft words about children's bad behaviour so they do not sound cross or shame the child in public.
• Shame again, and a second confession.
• The shame was heavy.
• When parents are called to school, it is to solve a problem together, not to shame the child.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «shame» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.