shamelessness

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *skamō Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-Germanic *skamōlausaz Proto-West Germanic *skamulaus Old English sċamlēas Middle English schameles English shameless Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English shamelessness From shameless + -ness.

1. The state or characteristic of being shameless.

   “[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.”

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

2. An utterance or action which is shameless.

   “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, but all intended as denunciations of the existing scheme of morals, all followed by the same remark that while marriage exists there can be no happiness for mankind.”

   “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. . . .”