ˈ ̷ ̷lə̇s adjective
Etymology: Middle English shameles, from Old English scamlēas, from scamu, sceamu shame + -lēas -less
1. : devoid of shame : insensible to disgrace : unscrupulous
fiend and shameless courtesan — Shakespeare
a shameless exploiter of the native workmen
2. : showing lack of shame on the part of the agent : disgraceful
a shameless betrayal of principle — Rebecca West
there was something shameless and indecent about not singing true — Willa Cather
Synonyms:
shameless , brazen , barefaced , brash , and impudent , applying in common to persons or acts that defy the accepted moral of social code, mean, in this application, bold or lacking a sense of shame. shameless implies a lack in modesty, decency, respect for others, or so on
makes such shameless use of patriotic feelings to advertise his product — Virgil Thomson
a shameless display of arrogance
a shameless and brutal treatment of relatives
brazen adds to shameless the idea of hardness and insolence
hip movements and more or less brazen imitations of the sexual embrace — Samuel Putnam
solicited praise and power with the brazen, businesslike air of a streetwalker on the prowl for clients — R.H.Rovere
barefaced suggests an extreme and brazen effrontery
the whole deal was a barefaced double cross — Time
as barefaced a swindle — Arnold Bennett
a barefaced lie
brash stresses rather a heedlessness, implying a shamelessness that is largely callowness
not like the other girls who were boisterous and brash, liking to walk loudly in their high heels across the drug store's tiled floor — Jean Stafford
an all-too-intimate revue, its bawls out brash ditties, features loud-colored, low-cut skits, winks its eye and wiggles its hips — Time
brash college graduates of recent vintage who claimed to know almost everything — R.F.Scholz
impudent , now rare in this sense, implies bold and cocky defiance of modesty or decency
conduct so sordidly unladylike that even the most impudent woman would not dare do it openly — G.B.Shaw