Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
hangdog

hangdog

1 8.6
Looking sad and ashamed because you feel guilty or embarrassed
  • adjective
  • /ˈhæŋˌdɔg/
translation icon : culpable
  • The detective's expression was as hangdog as it had been when they met at the bar the night before, but he was back to his crumpled, perpetually disheveled look.

Downtrodden hangdog Trump says, well, I don't know what he'd be gaining.

Examples

  • "Now suddenly, a sweet, spent, hangdog look comes on Rose's face.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Or maybe they could see themselves hangdog at the dinner table trying to explain to these same women, or even, Jesus!

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Downtrodden hangdog Trump says, well, I don't know what he'd be gaining.

    I've Had It

  • "To be able to more convincingly impersonate a Normal," says Jerome, equally hangdog.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • She wants to scold him for not trusting her, for being hangdog and absent when presence counted.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • He was poor himself, at least as far as money goes, but he was not hangdog and spiritless like many of the people he'd met in this part of the state, beaten down and ruined inside by hard times.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • He had a hangdog expression after forgetting his best friend's birthday.

  • She looked hangdog when she realized she had made a mistake in the presentation.

  • The dog's hangdog gaze made it clear he was sorry for chewing on the furniture.

Synonyms

guilty
vshangdog
793 1.4

Showing that you feel bad about doing something wrong

is about an outward appearance rather than internal responsibility feelings
shamefaced
vshangdog
1 6.5

Feeling or showing shame and embarrassment

is mainly about an outward appearance that shows embarrassment

Antonyms

proud
∞ 1.0

Feeling very pleased and good about something you or someone close did

confident
715 2.5

Feeling sure about yourself or what will happen

How Shamefaced

humiliated
  • Offensive
1 3.7
hangdog
1 8.6
abashed
1 7.2
sheepish
9 4.0

Surface Forms

hangdog positive

Morphology

hangdog = hang + dog (opaque) = hang + dog

Although built from 'hang' + 'dog', the idiomatic meaning 'sullen or ashamed' cannot be directly derived from the literal senses of the components.

Etymology

Hangdog probably comes from the words hang and dog, giving the picture of a dog with its head hung low and tail down. A helpful way to remember it is that a hangdog face shows 'guilt' or 'shame', which is why the word means looking embarrassed or downcast.