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The Difference Between Abashed and Unabashed
To abash someone is to shake up their self-possession, as illustrated by Charlotte Brontë in her 1849 novel Shirley: "He had never blushed in his life; no humiliation could abash him." When you are unabashed you make no apologies for your behavior (nor do you attempt to hide or disguise it), but when you are abashed your confidence has been thrown off and you may feel rather inferior or ashamed of yourself. English speakers have been using abashed to describe feelings of embarrassment since the 14th century, but they have only used unabashed (brazenly or otherwise) since the 15th century (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Examples of unabashed in a Sentence
Tiziana Cardini, Vogue, 7 Apr. 2024
The unabashed 48 mm case is made of the Swiss watchmaker’s reddish King Gold alloy and set with some 248 precious stones.
—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 6 Apr. 2024
The group — which was made up of Axl Rose, Steven Adler, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin and Slash — has given fans decades of unabashed rock and roll.
—Stephanie Sengwe, Peoplemag, 6 Apr. 2024
There’s always been a playful irreverence to his films, an unabashed adoration for B-movie exuberance, his outlandish stories’ faint emotional underpinnings married to giddy spectacle.
—Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2024
And more often than not, the show (whose world premiere was this past June in Atlanta) captures the unabashed mix of romance and pathos that made its source material, a bestseller by Sara Gruen, so wildly popular.
—Elisabeth Vincentelli, Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2024
The AfD poses a threat that many see as singular, both because of Germany’s history and because of the party’s unabashed extremism.
—Joseph De Weck, The Atlantic, 20 Mar. 2024
The equinox ushers you into unabashed introspection.
—USA TODAY, 19 Mar. 2024
With July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom.
—Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unabashed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Unabashed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unabashed. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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