shamefaced

shamefaced
    adj 1: extremely modest or shy; "cheerfully bearing reproaches
           but shamefaced at praise"- H.O.Taylor
    2: showing a sense of shame [syn: {shamefaced}, {sheepish}]
    3: showing a sense of guilt; "a guilty look"; "the hangdog and
       shamefaced air of the retreating enemy"- Eric Linklater [syn:
       {guilty}, {hangdog}, {shamefaced}, {shamed}]
    

Shamefaced \Shame"faced`\, a. [For shamefast; AS. scamfaest. See
   {Shame}, n., and {Fast} firm.]
   Easily confused or put out of countenance; diffident;
   bashful; modest.
   [1913 Webster]

         Your shamefaced virtue shunned the people's prise.
                                                  --Dryden.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: Shamefaced was once shamefast, shamefacedness was
         shamefastness, like steadfast and steadfastness; but
         the ordinary manifestations of shame being by the face,
         have brought it to its present orthography. --Trench.
         [1913 Webster] -- {Shame"faced}, adv. --
         {Shame"faced`ness}, n.
         [1913 Webster]
    

56 Moby Thesaurus words for "shamefaced":
      abashed, ashamed, bashful, blushing, chagrined, chapfallen,
      chastened, confused, conscience-smitten, conscience-stricken,
      conscious, coy, crestfallen, crushed, demure, diffident,
      discomfited, embarrassed, full of remorse, hangdog, humbled,
      humiliated, inarticulate, meek, modest, mortified, mousy,
      out of countenance, red-faced, regretful, remorseful, repining,
      rueful, self-accusing, self-condemning, self-conscious,
      self-convicting, self-debasing, self-effacing, self-flagellating,
      self-humiliating, self-punishing, self-reproaching, shamed,
      shamefast, shameful, sheepish, shy, skittish, sorry, stammering,
      timid, timorous, uncomfortable, unhappy about, wistful