bashful

adjective bash·ful \ ˈbash-fəl \

|Updated on: 9 Jul 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: bashful in a Sentence

Editor's Note: The Roots of bashful

Definition of bashful

1 : socially shy or timid : diffident, self-conscious

He was bashful as a child.

2 : resulting from or typical of a bashful nature

a bashful smile

—

bashfully

play \-fə-lē\ adverb

—

bashfulness

play \-fəl-nəs\ noun

See bashful defined for English-language learners

See bashful defined for kids

Examples of bashful in a Sentence

bashful boys asking girls to dance
a bashful child who hid in his room whenever there were visitors in the house

Recent Examples of bashful from the Web

The response is bashful at first, but as Key's smooth, soulful voice brings the cafeteria to near-silence, his audience can't help but join in for the chorus.

— lauren fox, kansascity, "Have you heard Independence's singing school custodian? 'I haven't been booed yet'," 27 June 2018
Lincoln-Way East junior Wil McPhillips can do a lot at the net except, perhaps, be bashful.

— logan malloy, chicagotribune.com, "Wil power: Wil McPhillips sparks Lincoln-Way East past Brother Rice for sectional title," 30 May 2018
Bo Ryan and others weren't bashful about the frustration with officials, which didn't stop there.

— jr radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Five other times when Wisconsin sports teams have been hurt by iffy (or outright bad) officiating," 23 May 2018
Yet Coats’ bashful exterior has helped him survive in the tumultuous Trump Administration.

— massimo calabresi, Time, "Intelligence Director Dan Coats Is the Mild-Mannered Force the Trump Administration Needs," 22 May 2018
Sports gamblers long have been a highly engaged if somewhat bashful segment of the sports audience.

— holman jenkins, WSJ, "Gambling Is Coming, So Get Ready to Hate Sports," 18 May 2018
Nordin, Michigan's unique, never-bashful kicker from Rockford, has one of the strongest legs in the country.

— nick baumgardner, Detroit Free Press, "Michigan's Quinn Nordin working way back from the wild side," 10 May 2018
The new hire at his chemist, a bashful Saudi girl, shies from his request to spray colognes on his hand.

— The Economist, "Saudi Arabia is pushing out foreigners to create jobs for locals," 28 Apr. 2018
Already in his fifth decade in public office and seeking a sixth, Nelson is running scared and hardly bashful about showing it.

— david smiley and alex daugherty, miamiherald, "Bill Nelson has never been tested like this. But neither has Rick Scott. | Miami Herald," 9 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bashful.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Roots of bashful

The adjective suffix -ful has a number of different senses, most of which have very little to do with "full of." In the case of bashful, -ful means "having the qualities of." This sense of -ful was combined with an obsolete verb bash meaning "to be abashed” (that is, dismayed or embarrassed) to form bashful, which literally means “having the qualities of being abashed.” This combination of a verb with -ful is also seen in mournful, which literally means “having the qualities of mourning.”

Origin and Etymology of bashful

Early Modern English bash "to lose composure, be dismayed" (going back to Middle English baishen, basshen, probably aphetic variant of abaissen, abaschen "to abash") + ¹-ful

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1548

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

bashful Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of bashful

shy, bashful, diffident, modest, coy mean not inclined to be forward. shy implies a timid reserve and a shrinking from familiarity or contact with others.