sheepishly

adjective

1. embarrassed or bashful, as by having done something wrong or foolish.
2. like sheep, as in meekness, docility, etc.

adjective

1. abashed or embarrassed, esp through looking foolish or being in the wrong
2. resembling a sheep in timidity or lack of initiative

adj.c.1200, “resembling a sheep” in some perceived characteristic, from sheep + -ish. The sense of “bashful, over-modest, awkward among strangers” first is recorded 1690s. Related: Sheepishly; sheepishness. Old English had sceaplic “of a sheep, ‘sheep-ly.'”