Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The character of being sheepish; bashfulness; excessive modesty or diffidence; mean timorousness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The quality or property of being
sheepish ;shyness ;bashfulness .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun feeling embarrassed about yourself
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"It's Louie," said Jack, with an expression of face that was as near an approximation to what is called sheepishness as any thing I ever saw.
The Lady of the Ice A Novel James De Mille
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The other riders come in very slowly, and are oppressed by that indescribable air of sheepishness which is peculiar to gentleman jockeys when they do not win.
Henry Dunbar A Novel 1875
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Naysayers and pessimists can point all they want to the "sheepishness," indolence and decadence of the American people.
who's your nanny? 2009
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"That's not to say that there aren't some" Obama sheep "out there, but" sheepishness "is largely a characteristic of the willfully ignorant on the far right." - bozo
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While my initial reaction was sheepishness, I knew the call was serious and wondered if it had to do with his ongoing health problems.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Dad Jack Canfield 2011
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While my initial reaction was sheepishness, I knew the call was serious and wondered if it had to do with his ongoing health problems.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Dad Jack Canfield 2011
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It was almost a prayer, but a prayer that included a thousand meanings Daylight strove to feign sheepishness, but his heart was singing too wild a song for mere playfulness.
Chapter XXIV 2010
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I do not suggest that these obstacles were placed there consciously with the prospect of now and then enjoying the sight of an unsuspecting or unobservant or uninitiated passer-by collapsing in a jolly heap of flailing arms, smashed salsa bottles, broken eggs, spilled veggies and an overwhelming sense of sheepishness.
Good morning, Melaque: one day in a small Mexico beach town 2009
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I do not suggest that these obstacles were placed there consciously with the prospect of now and then enjoying the sight of an unsuspecting or unobservant or uninitiated passer-by collapsing in a jolly heap of flailing arms, smashed salsa bottles, broken eggs, spilled veggies and an overwhelming sense of sheepishness.
Good morning, Melaque: one day in a small Mexico beach town 2009
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I'm interested in these 'non-negotiable basics of Britishness', which when propounded in the media, usually end up as the one over-riding quality, namely a mythical sheepishness in allowing anyone who happens upon our land, to claim by nothing more than their arrival, to be as British as us.
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