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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
Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 29 Jan. 2025
However, your genius and unabashed confidence means that some of these admirers will actually turn out to be fair-weather friends, or even downright haters.
—Roya Backlund, StyleCaster, 24 Jan. 2025
The topline is that viewers do not want a lecture and do gravitate towards unabashed escapism.
—Stewart Clarke, Deadline, 28 Jan. 2025
Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors’ stories to silence a woman who asked for safety.
—Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 25 Jan. 2025
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 16 Feb. 2025.
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