self-reproach

noun

self-re·​proach ˌself-ri-ˈprōch 

plural self-reproaches

: harsh criticism or disapproval of oneself especially for wrongdoing

feelings of self-reproach

When she reached home she went to bed, spent with the tumult of her emotions and sick with shame and self-reproach.

—William Dean Howells

also : an instance or expression of self-reproach

… I was greatly pained and made many self-reproaches for not having written to you for so long a time …

—Thomas De Quincey

Synonyms

• contriteness
• contrition
• guilt
• penitence
• regret
• remorse
• remorsefulness
• repentance
• rue
• shame

Examples of self-reproach in a Sentence

he was filled with self-reproach for causing the accident

Recent Examples on the Web

Amanda’s self-reproach expresses a depressed national mood. —Armond White, National Review, 10 Apr. 2024

Jihan was overtaken by bitterness and self-reproach. —Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024

Photo: andrew caballero-reynolds/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Festivus has its airing of grievances and the 2024 Democratic National Convention in August may feature the wailing of self-reproach. —James Freeman, WSJ, 26 Dec. 2023

One of the many poignant aspects of Nick’s early death is that his friends have carried a lifelong sense of regret and even self-reproach. —Lily Moayeri, SPIN, 18 Dec. 2023

For an artist, self-reproach and self-aggrandizement can be two faces of the same mirror. —Sara Holdren, Vulture, 30 Nov. 2023

The genre is like a psychological tattoo on a culture that has lost faith in itself — like the bourgeois self-reproach in Yazmina Reza’s puerile God of Carnage that Roman Polanski filmed. —Armond White, National Review, 29 Nov. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1753, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

self-reproach

noun

self-re·​proach

ˌsel-fri-ˈprōch

: the act of blaming or accusing oneself