Question

He came back ten minutes later with a sheepish expression. It was one of those accidents that couldn’t possibly happen; we’d had one of our rare eclipses by Earth’s shadow that night; part of the air purifier had frozen up, and the single alarm in the circuit had failed to go off. Half a million dollars’ worth of chemical and electronic engineering had let us down completely. Without Claribel, we should soon have been slightly dead. Assessment: What is the meaning of the word "sheepish" as it is used in paragraph 24?


A. angry
B. boastful
C. mocking
D. embarrassed

Answer 1

D. embarrassed

"Sheepish" here means embarrassed or ashamed—his expression shows awkward guilt about the accident that nearly got them killed, not anger, boasting, or mocking.