as in to embarrass
to throw into a state of self-conscious distress
felt terribly abashed when she walked into the wrong hotel room
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Recent Examples of abash
Here, furious parents throw open the cupboard to reveal their daughter’s abashed lover, as younger children look on wide-eyed and the family dog prepares to attack.
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Susan Delson, WSJ, 20 June 2018
Bloom called him out, and the abashed Harris apologized.
—Christina Schoellkopf, latimes.com, 15 June 2018
Not easily abashed by body-shamers, Teigen has publicly posted next-to-naked topless photos in the past.
—Megan Decker, Harper's BAZAAR, 22 May 2018
Hefner was good-natured but rather abashed, diffident, and shy.
—Jeanie Pyun, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Oct. 2017
Peverelli seemed slightly abashed at the images’ potential elevation from commerce to art.
—Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 22 May 2017
But there is also a sort of confused, abashed one, often ironic, that acknowledges a problem and tries to work through a particularly American obliviousness.
—Jill McDonough, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abash
Verb
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The report reiterated concerns about seven situations, two of which have been on the list since 2007, including the bureaucracy’s chronic inability to successfully employ information technology — embarrassing for a state that is the global center for digital tools.—
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The report reiterated concerns about seven situations, two of which have been on the list since 2007, including the bureaucracy’s chronic inability to successfully employ information technology — embarrassing for a state that is the global center for digital tools.—
Verb
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The 40-year-old cooks up ways to make quarterbacks miserable in his sleep, devising schemes that are meant to lure as much as they are intended to confuse.—
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Canales-Pelaez said that local departments may be confusing administrative warrants with criminal ones, or overcomplying to avoid backlash from the state Legislature.—
Verb
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The run-in may have been awkward on-screen, but Franceschini wasn't flustered.—
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Pinnick in a series of plays can fluster his coaches for extending a play when maybe throwing the ball away might be wiser.—
Verb
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The picture exudes both grace and vulnerability, and hints at imperfection by way of a disconcerting, coral-like wrinkle that mars the foot’s heel.—
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Still, many of the shifts constitute a disconcerting brain drain.—
Verb
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Pulling up from the free-throw line with a defender a few feet ahead, Andrews’ midrange jumper rattled inside the basket before popping back out as the buzzer sounded.—
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When shopkeepers in the narrow streets of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar protested the government’s failing economic policies, their chants rattled the regime.—
Cite this Entry
“Abash.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abash. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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