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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
Robyn Mowatt, Essence, 6 Nov. 2024
In December 2023, Sydney Sweeney starred with Glen Powell in Anyone But You, Sony Pictures’ romantic comedy that became an unabashed box office success, making $220 million on a budget of $25 million.
—Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Oct. 2024
Trump is an unabashed authoritarian, and authoritarianism is anathema to liberty.
—Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune, 3 Oct. 2024
Gill, who was the focus of the film Dumb Money, has been an unabashed GameStop bull for years, posting on Twitter/X as Roaring Kitty and on Reddit under the name DeepF—ingValue.
—Chris Morris, Fortune, 30 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for unabashed 
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Cite this Entry
“Unabashed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unabashed. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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