Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Degradation or humiliation of oneself, especially because of feelings of guilt or inferiority.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Abasement or humiliation proceeding from guilt, shame, or consciousness of unworthiness.
- noun Degradation of one's self by one's own act.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Degradation of one's self by one's own act.
- noun Humiliation or abasement proceeding from consciousness of inferiority, guilt, or shame.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Self-punishment in order to
atone for some real or imagined wrongdoing.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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It's a tribute to the filmmakers' verve that they've kept the sex scenes funny—extremely funny—since what we're seeing is sheer self-abasement.
'Bridesmaids' Catches the Bouquet Joe Morgenstern 2011
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It was as if they wanted to punish me for not falling over in praise of the self-abasement they wanted me to portray as their muse, or something.
Roseanne Archy Roseanne Barr 2011
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If Gervais has the biggest head in comedy, Merchant now establishes himself as the king of self-abasement.
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It was as if they wanted to punish me for not falling over in praise of the self-abasement they wanted me to portray as their muse, or something.
Roseanne Archy Roseanne Barr 2011
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It was as if they wanted to punish me for not falling over in praise of the self-abasement they wanted me to portray as their muse, or something.
Roseanne Archy Roseanne Barr 2011
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Europe's self-abasement comes just weeks after the last round of Eurozone crisis mismanagement.
Europe Doesn't Need China's Money Philip Bowring 2011
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Or inspire some awful comparison bug that would cause us all to sink into a miserable heap of self-abasement?
Whoa. Wait a Second. A Decade? Really? I Didn’t Even Realize… « Looking for Roots 2009
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It was as if they wanted to punish me for not falling over in praise of the self-abasement they wanted me to portray as their muse, or something.
Roseanne Archy Roseanne Barr 2011
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Appeasement and compromise will turn enemies into friends, if groveling and self-abasement do not first drive friends into the enemy camp.
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Audacity often brought rewards; self-abasement seldom did.
red dust Ryn Cricket 2010
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