Definition

1. Noun:
   • Voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing: The act of deliberately humiliating, degrading, or punishing oneself, often as a form of penance or to express remorse.
   • The act of lowering or humbling oneself: A conscious effort to diminish one's own dignity, status, or pride.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • His public confession and self-abasement were an attempt to seek forgiveness for his mistakes.
  • In some religious practices, acts of self-abasement are seen as a path to spiritual purification.
  • She felt that constant self-abasement was not healthy and decided to practice self-compassion instead.

Advanced Usage

• "To engage in self-abasement": To actively participate in acts of humiliating oneself.
  • After the scandal, the politician engaged in public self-abasement to salvage his career.
• "A gesture of self-abasement": A specific action intended to show humility or penitence.
  • Bowing so low before the crowd was seen as a profound gesture of self-abasement.

Variants and Related Words

• Abase (verb): To behave in a way that belittles or degrades oneself.
  • He refused to abase himself before his critics.
• Self-abasing (adjective): Characterized by or involving self-humiliation.
  • Her self-abasing apology made everyone uncomfortable.
• Self-flagellation (noun): A more specific term for severe self-punishment, often literal, but can be used metaphorically similarly to self-abasement.
  • His constant self-criticism bordered on emotional self-flagellation.

Synonyms

• Self-humiliation: The act of humiliating oneself.
• Mortification: The feeling of shame or humiliation, or a practice of subduing bodily desires (often in a religious context).
• Penitence: The action of feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong; can involve self-abasement.

Antonyms

• Self-respect: Pride and confidence in oneself.
• Self-assertion: The confident and forceful expression or promotion of oneself.
• Pride: A feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "To eat humble pie": To make a humble apology and accept humiliation. This idiom relates to the concept of self-abasement.
  • After his error was exposed, he had to eat humble pie.
• "To grovel": To act in an obsequious way to obtain forgiveness or favor, which can be a form of self-abasement.
  • He groveled at her feet, begging for another chance.

Noun

1. voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing