English

Noun

shamelessness ‎(countable and uncountable, plural shamelessnesses)

1. (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being shameless.
   • 1853, Charles Kingsley, Hypatia, ch. 7:

     [H]e added to all his other shamelessness this, that he offered the patriarch a large sum of money to buy a bishopric of him.

   • 1914, Joseph Conrad, The Arrow of Gold, ch. 1:

     "For instance as to her shamelessness. She was always ready to run half naked about the hills. . . ."

   • 1919, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Dangerous Days, ch. 50:

     She was quite honest with herself; she knew that she was watching for Clay, and she had a magnificent shamelessness in her quest.

2. (countable, rare) An utterance or action which is shameless.
   • 1872 May 18, "The Womens Rights' Convention in New York," The Spectator, Volume 45, p. 624:

     Shoals of letters are published every week from all parts of the Union telling stories of the unhappiness produced by marriage, sometimes mere bursts of ill-temper, often cynical shamelessnesses, occasionally stories of deep pathos.

   • 1963, James Joyce and David Hayman, A First-Draft Version of Finnegans Wake (2002 edition), ISBN 9781893311268, p. 109:

     He was able to write in the gloom of his bottle only because of his noseglow nose's glow as it slid over the paper and while he scribbled & scratched nameless shamelessnesses about ethers everybody ever he met. . . .

   • 2006, Judith Weingarten, The Chronicle of Zenobia, ISBN 9781843862192, p. 104:

     He asked of course after Taimsa, who was still dallying in shamelessnesses at Antioch.

Synonyms

• (state or characteristic of being shameless): immodesty, unself-consciousness

Translations