- present participle of embarrass.
embarrassing
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Use the adjective embarrassing to describe something that is shameful or humiliating. You probably have a few embarrassing stories that you'd rather not remember, but your siblings are always happy to bring them up at holidays. It's really embarrassing how many people misspell embarrassing. The word has two r's and two s's but you might forget and leave one of them out. Imagine how embarrassing it would be if you were winning the third grade spelling bee and got the word embarrassing wrong. You know everyone would be talking about it. How embarrassing!
Vocabulary lists containing embarrassing
Awkward Moments
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Schooled
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Neighborhood Odes
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Death by Clippy would be embarrassing, but result from a failure to restrict how goals are achieved.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
He was called a "disgrace" and "embarrassing" by United legends Gary Neville and Roy Keane after the 7-0 loss to Liverpool in 2023, while Chris Sutton said he should never captain the club again.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
I love the strange emotion in these songs — the feeling that you might as well say what you want because the only thing more embarrassing than taking a risk is not taking one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
The Roadster demo “was an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing traditional car makers,” Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, wrote on X.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Lissa gave him one of those looks I’d given my father when he’d said something embarrassing.
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
