as in bashfulness
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of sheepishness
Still, his courtiers seemed to be encouraging him to lean into sheepishness.
—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 20 May 2026
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 20 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sheepishness
Noun
-
Her skin—something known as Frubber, a porous patented blend of fleshlike elastic polymers—stretched over a structure of plastic and titanium, and there was no flicker of bashfulness.—
Dan Turello,
New Yorker,
10 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Celik seems attuned to such questions as a valid (if not necessarily revelatory) core for a play to circle around, but Cramer’s writing often feels caught between an exploration of comic diffidence and simply an expression of it.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
30 Mar. 2026
-
As Michael, a bathroom and kitchen fixture wholesaler, Dan Donohue’s performance is riveting in its expansion from awkward diffidence to unbridled savagery while revealing his inner core.—
Christopher Smith,
Oc Register,
2 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
But what is different about the downfall of Starmer, which is now under way, has been the timidity of his premiership, its chronic self-doubt, as if its voice were permanently stuck in its throat.—
Sam Knight,
New Yorker,
14 May 2026
-
But our delay and our timidity continue to cause unimaginable human suffering.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
13 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Wilder was not stuck in the state of inertia that plagued him against Parker or the timidness against Zhang.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
As the silence stretched into preschool, the 33-year-old mother of four began to realize her daughter’s behavior might be something deeper than shyness.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
PEOPLE,
17 May 2026
-
That got everybody over their shyness.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Writing in the early 1890s, Nadar deployed Balzac’s reported initial mistrust and later acquiescence to the daguerreotype as an allegory of larger significance for understanding the history of invention.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Apr. 2026
-
But as the sexist and racist nature of the MAGA machine has gained mainstream acquiescence if not acceptance, the need to keep up the appearance of diversity is less and less.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Loper Bright cut into agency deference last term, but reviewing courts still consider whether an agency’s interpretation is reasonable in light of statutory purpose.—
Zennon Kapron,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2026
-
The archetype here isn’t rugged independence so much as nervous deference dressed up as toughness.—
Rachel Marsden,
Hartford Courant,
16 May 2026
Noun
-
Attraction is a function of parentage and looks and submissiveness.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
6 May 2026
-
But for Coles, his indoctrination to law enforcement has been a different level of submissiveness.—
Dan Pompei,
New York Times,
2 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sheepishness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sheepishness. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
