Humiliation
Etymology
From Latin "humiliare," “to bring low, humble,” from "humilis" (lowly), from "humus" — the ground, the earth. To humiliate is literally to push someone to the dirt. The same "humus" root gives us "humble" and even "human" (the earthbound creature), so humiliation is a violent return to the ground we came from.
noun · /hyoo-mil-ee-AY-shun/
The painful sense of being degraded and stripped of dignity, usually before others.
What it names
Use it when someone is brought low against their will — the wound of being made small in front of an audience.
Example
Being publicly corrected by the intern in front of the whole board was a humiliation he never forgot.
Related idea
Against shame: shame is often self-generated and private; humiliation is done to you by others and is inherently social — it requires a witness and an agent. Where you can feel humbled and accept it, humiliation is humbling imposed by force and felt as injustice.
See also