unabashed

"John's behaviour caused great concern among his teachers."
1. Is "unabashed" or "unabashing"?
2. Is it equivalent to "unembarrassed/unembarrassing"?
Thanks.

Mimi,

It is "unabashed" in this context. Yes, it means unembarassed; see www.wordreference.com/definition/unabashed.

TheMagician said:

Mimi,

It is "unabashed" in this context. Yes, it means unembarassed; see www.wordreference.com/definition/unabashed.

Thank you very much.
I feel that there may be something different between these two words "unembarrased behaviour" and "unembarrasing behaviour". Please tell me its difference. Thanks.

"unembarrassed behaviour" means that you are not ashamed of your actions.

"Unembarrassing behaving" is not something I personally would say. I can't say that it doesn't exist or that other people don't use it. It just sounds a bit awkward to me.

If I did use this phrase, I would probably use it to talk about someone else's behaviour rather than my own, although I can't see why it couldn't be applied to my own behaviour. In this case, I would use "unembarrassing behaviour" to say that your actions do not cause me embarrassment. However, I'd be more more likely to say "I'm not embarrassed".

TheMagician said:

"unembarrassed behaviour" means that you are not ashamed of your actions.

"Unembarrassing behaving" is not something I personally would say. I can't say that it doesn't exist or that other people don't use it. It just sounds a bit awkward to me.

If I did use this phrase, I would probably use it to talk about someone else's behaviour rather than my own, although I can't see why it couldn't be applied to my own behaviour. In this case, I would use "unembarrassing behaviour" to say that your actions do not cause me embarrassment. However, I'd be more more likely to say "I'm not embarrassed".

Thank you, theMagician.
I can understand what you are trying to explain to me. Very helpful indeed.

"John's behaviour caused great concern among his teachers."

The use of unabashed in this sentence troubles me, but I can't quite work out why.
Could it be that I expect John to be unabashed rather than his behaviour?
There is certainly some truth in that, but it's not the whole story.

It's about the difference between unembarrassed and unabashed.
Unembarrassed is a fairly neutral term, reporting an observation with just a hint of surprise.
Unabashed is much more judgemental - he jolly well ought to be abashed and he's not! That's not to say that unabashed is negative, only that it describes something that is surprising.

So, John's unabashed flouting of the uniform rules caused great concern among his teachers.
John's unabashed sentimentality won him many admirers.

I can't quite get the same feeling about unabashed behaviour - unless the nature of this behaviour has already been made clear in the preceding text.

Is unabashed more like unashamed than unembarrassed?

Webster defines unabashed as "undisguised, unapologetic":

When you are "unabashed," you make no apologies for your behavior, but when you are "abashed," your confidence has been shaken and you may feel rather inferior or ashamed of yourself. Mary marveled at Sean's unabashed rudeness, astonished that he could be so obnoxious without a trace of remorse. http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?Dec.19.2006

Definitely sounds more judgmental. And I agree that it would be best to name the behavior.

Hi!
I asked in the Italian-English forum if they could help me in finding an adjective in order to describe sb who doesn't care too much about others' opinion although their way of acting may be arguable, queer. An user suggested me to use "unabashed". I'm not so sure if I fully understand its meaning, so if I try to provide my own examples can you advise me if they work? Thanks!

- somebody in her fifties that doesn't dress appropriately for her age.
- a girl that is grinding on sb while dancing
- a male that doesn't care to be seen with many different "female" friends at his side

I would translate all these situations with the same expression, and always according to what an user told me, a loose translation of it might be: She/He doesn't worry too much about what others might think.

Thanks!

To be abashed is:The emphasis is mine and reflects what I think is the current sense.
Unabashed is the opposite.
It's difficult to be sure if it fits well with reka's characters, but it probably does.
Have a look at the WordReference dictionary's in context links for current media usage of unabashed.

Thanks for the help, Panjandrum. What about "uninhibited"? Which of the two words is more frequent? Could it work too in my previous examples?