English Dictionary |
SELF-ABASEMENT
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Dictionary entry overview: What does self-abasement mean?
• SELF-ABASEMENT (noun)
The noun SELF-ABASEMENT has 1 sense:
1. voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing
Familiarity information: SELF-ABASEMENT used as a noun is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
penance; self-abasement; self-mortification
Hypernyms ("self-abasement" is a kind of...):
penalisation; penalization; penalty; punishment (the act of punishing)
Context examples
I was not so vexed at losing Agnes as I might have been, since it gave me an opportunity of making myself known to Traddles on the stairs, who greeted me with great fervour; while Uriah writhed with such obtrusive satisfaction and self-abasement, that I could gladly have pitched him over the banisters.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
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