noun · neutral
shame
/ʃeɪm/SHAME
Band 5-6speakingtask2
a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behaviour
Examples
“She felt shame after lying about her grades.”
“It would be a shame to waste such an opportunity.”
“His behaviour was described as shameful.”
Band 8 sentence
“Many citizens felt deep shame when the corruption scandal came to light.”
Collocations
- feel ashamed (of)
- bring shame upon
- a shameful act
Word family
shame noun / verbshameful adjectiveshameless adjectiveashamed adjectiveshamefully adverbshamelessly adverb
Common mistakes
I am shameful for failing the exam.→I am ashamed of failing the exam.
He feel shame about his mistake.→He feels ashamed about his mistake.
Say it for a higher band
5embarrassment→6guilt→7+shame
Synonyms
embarrassment
guilt
Easily confused
embarrassment
“He felt great embarrassment when he forgot his lines on stage.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In -ful / -less
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