HUMILIATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does humiliation mean? 

• HUMILIATION (noun)
  The noun HUMILIATION has 4 senses:

1. state of disgrace or loss of self-respect

2. strong feelings of embarrassment

3. an instance in which you are caused to lose your prestige or self-respect

4. depriving one of self-esteem

  Familiarity information: HUMILIATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HUMILIATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

State of disgrace or loss of self-respect

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("humiliation" is a kind of...):

disgrace; ignominy; shame (a state of dishonor)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "humiliation"):

abasement; abjection; degradation (a low or downcast state)

Derivation:

humiliate (cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Strong feelings of embarrassment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

chagrin; humiliation; mortification

Hypernyms ("humiliation" is a kind of...):

embarrassment (the shame you feel when your inadequacy or guilt is made public)

Derivation:

humiliate (cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An instance in which you are caused to lose your prestige or self-respect

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

humiliation; mortification

Context example:

he had to undergo one humiliation after another

Hypernyms ("humiliation" is a kind of...):

case; example; instance (an occurrence of something)

Derivation:

humiliate (cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Depriving one of self-esteem

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

abasement; humiliation

Hypernyms ("humiliation" is a kind of...):

debasement; degradation (changing to a lower state (a less respected state))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "humiliation"):

comedown (decline to a lower status or level)

Derivation:

humiliate (cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of)

 Context examples 

But I was already so far up the great tree that it seemed a humiliation to return without having carried out my mission.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What happened to me next on the sealing-schooner Ghost, as I strove to fit into my new environment, are matters of humiliation and pain.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Penitence, humiliation, shame, pride, love, and trustfulness—I see them all; and in them all, I see that horror of I don't know what.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Every moment had brought a fresh surprize; and every surprize must be matter of humiliation to her.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“I don’t see how that could be. There is a definite treaty there. She could never recover from such a humiliation.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“What will the Duke say,” he murmured, “when he hears that one of the family has been subjected to such humiliation?”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And there was a pleasure in my services, most full, most exquisite, even though sad—because he claimed these services without painful shame or damping humiliation.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

His chief reward for the painful exertion of disclosing past sorrows and present humiliations, was given in the pitying eye with which Marianne sometimes observed him, and the gentleness of her voice whenever (though it did not often happen) she was obliged, or could oblige herself to speak to him.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Lydia—the humiliation, the misery she was bringing on them all, soon swallowed up every private care; and covering her face with her handkerchief, Elizabeth was soon lost to everything else; and, after a pause of several minutes, was only recalled to a sense of her situation by the voice of her companion, who, in a manner which, though it spoke compassion, spoke likewise restraint, said, I am afraid you have been long desiring my absence, nor have I anything to plead in excuse of my stay, but real, though unavailing concern.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

From this state of humiliation, she was roused, at the end of ten minutes, to a pleasanter feeling, by seeing, not Mr. Thorpe, but Mr. Tilney, within three yards of the place where they sat; he seemed to be moving that way, but he did not see her, and therefore the smile and the blush, which his sudden reappearance raised in Catherine, passed away without sullying her heroic importance.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)