shaming

1 of 2

adjective

sham·​ing ˈshā-miŋ How to pronounce shaming (audio)
: causing feelings of shame
The facts are too shaming for a proud nation to remember.Niger Calder
… for me it's a shaming reminder that for five and a half months I let a man call me "Baby Bear" …Tina Brown
What happened at Enron … was indeed a shaming episode in the history of US capitalism.Geoffrey Owen
… books that if they are left unread are truly shamingJeff Reid
shamingly adverb
I was reduced to ringing. Got the answering machine. Her voice—but insultingly impersonal, shamingly stilted. Michael Frayn

shaming

2 of 2

noun

plural shamings
: the act or activity of subjecting someone to shame, disgrace, humiliation, or disrepute especially by public exposure or criticism
Other times they would take more aggressive measures, tracking down and exposing the identities of supposed wrongdoers who the group felt had not been brought to justice. Public shaming is a standard tool for this kind of activism …Emily Bazelon
Between 1957 and 1961, he … managed to rig the outcomes of at least 43 [college basketball] games, leading to the arrests of 37 players and the shaming of several others.Eric Konigsberg
As the parade of … public shamings on Capitol Hill has shown …, the wealthy may not be universally loved, but they're America's favorite spectacle.James Poniewozik

Examples of shaming in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The world exploded with shock and a cacophony of parent shaming. Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 14 May 2024 Dealing with the importance of self-love and tough subjects such as body image and fat shaming, the book takes a serious subject and tells it with a blend of humor and heart, the author said. Allana Haynes, Baltimore Sun, 7 May 2024 What comes through are highs and valleys seen from the inside, a clarifying memoir from an unsentimental woman who endured being called every shaming name, with powerful grace notes of understanding from a son whose eyes betray a tough childhood. Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2024 There was an element of shaming—Perun’s staff was watching. Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024 Simply put, compliance is not always the primary goal of shaming. Rochelle Terman, Foreign Affairs, 27 Mar. 2024 The insidious nature of religious shaming is particularly evident in how it is consistently presented and justified as an act of love. Mark Travers, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024 In China, international shaming about human rights issues has sparked defensive nationalist backlashes among citizens, increasing support for the regime. Rochelle Terman, Foreign Affairs, 27 Mar. 2024 Public shaming requires public agreement as to what constitutes atonement and how that can or should be assessed, and that’s a far harder subject to address. Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shaming.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1741, in the meaning defined above

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of shaming was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near shaming

Cite this Entry

“Shaming.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shaming. Accessed 28 May. 2024.

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