Ashame

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic verb meaning to make someone feel embarrassed or disgraced by exposing a fault or failing
2. An old word for causing someone to feel humiliated, often by showing them up or outdoing them
3. Obsolete term for bringing disgrace upon a person or leaving them feeling mortified and abashed

Etymology: The verb "ashame" is an old formation in which the prefix a- ("intensifying" or "completing" the action) was attached to a base verb meaning "to feel shame." Its Old English ancestor, "āscamian," combined the prefix "ā-" with "scamian," and the base traces back to a Germanic word for shame and humiliation that also gave English the noun "shame" itself. So the verb is essentially "shame" with a thorough, emphatic edge: to put someone to shame, or to bring them to the point of being disgraced. Its history is a little unusual because the simple verb "shame" has been used for centuries, yet "ashame" survived as a distinct, more formal-sounding alternative. Its meaning has stayed close to its origin: to make someone feel ashamed, or to cover them with disgrace. The word is now rare and mostly found in older or literary writing.

Synonyms: shame, humiliate, disgrace

Antonyms: honor