embarrass
Americanverb (used with object)
-
embarrasses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
embarrassed,
past participle, past
-
embarrassing
present participle
-
to cause confusion and shame to; make uncomfortably self-conscious; disconcert; abash.
His bad table manners embarrassed her.
- Synonyms:
- chagrin, discomfit, discompose
-
to make difficult or intricate, as a question or problem; complicate.
-
to put obstacles or difficulties in the way of; impede.
The motion was advanced in order to embarrass the progress of the bill.
-
to beset with financial difficulties; burden with debt.
The decline in sales embarrassed the company.
verb (used without object)
-
embarrasses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
embarrassed,
past participle, past
-
embarrassing
present participle
verb
-
(also intr) to feel or cause to feel confusion or self-consciousness; disconcert; fluster
-
(usually passive) to involve in financial difficulties
-
archaic to make difficult; complicate
-
archaic to impede; obstruct; hamper
Synonym Usage
See confuse.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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preembarrassverb (used with object)
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embarrassedadjective
-
unembarrassedadjective
-
embarrassedlyadverb
-
embarrassinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
embarrasssimple
-
embarrassessimple
-
have embarrassedperfect
-
has embarrassedperfect
-
am embarrassingprogressive
-
are embarrassingprogressive
-
is embarrassingprogressive
-
have been embarrassingperfect progressive
-
has been embarrassingperfect progressive
Past
-
embarrassedsimple
-
had embarrassedperfect
-
was embarrassingprogressive
-
were embarrassingprogressive
-
had been embarrassingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of embarrass
1665–75; < French embarrasser < Spanish embarazar < Portuguese embaraçar, equivalent to em- em- 1 + -baraçar, verbal derivative of baraço, baraça cord, strap, noose (of obscure origin)
Explanation
If you embarrass someone, you make them feel self-conscious, awkward, or even stupid. Your mom might embarrass you by inviting your date to check out your childhood photos. Embarrass actually has another meaning, but it's very rarely used: to blockade, hinder, obstruct, or stymie. Nowadays, we tend to embarrass one another (and ourselves) by pretty much sticking to the basics: making fun of our friends when they blunder, accidentally revealing secrets in public, confessing our undying love to people who don't even know we exist, and all the millions of creative and frustrating ways we have of making mistakes.
Vocabulary lists containing embarrass
Super Bowl Blowout: Epic Vocab for the Big Game
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 2
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List 4
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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.
See Examples For:
If you are going to go, can you at least not embarrass yourself?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
As a place that came of age with the automobile, Los Angeles is a sprawl of freeways with a public transport system that would embarrass any medium-sized European city.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
Though the Johnny Cage figure is a walking embodiment of cheesy Hollywood tropes, his presence seems not to embarrass the film into abandoning its schlocky ways.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
The leaks that embarrass leaders usually aren’t about confidential business initiatives.
From MarketWatch ● May 6, 2026
I didn’t want to make her feel bad, and I definitely didn’t want to embarrass myself, so I didn’t ask her again.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
I was in my living room, sunk into the chaise lounge I retreat to, comfortable in a way that now embarrasses me, when I heard my mother’s voice in the other room calling my father.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
I guess he is about 80, but the answer he gives embarrasses me.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2025
That just takes 80-something victories, and any owner suggesting it is inordinately challenging to compete for a playoff spot should sell before he embarrasses himself any further.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025
"The seizure of envelopes with money in the office of a person I chose hurts me... embarrasses me before the Portuguese and I have a duty to apologise," Costa said.
From Reuters ● Nov. 11, 2023
The characters say something and mean something else, but the connection is so obvious it embarrasses the reader.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
“As a Mexican, I’m offended and embarrassed that he is returning as governor,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
“They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive.”
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
"I have felt very self-conscious. There are certain social events I haven't gone to, as I was so embarrassed at the way my arms were looking and the way my face looked."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
He became embarrassed after he was caught fabricating or embellishing stories about playing college baseball, responding to protest scenes and an award he won in the police academy, according to the motion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Or maybe he’s just as awkward and embarrassed as I am.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
After Ossoff mocked Trump’s “young, beautiful girls” spiel, however, it seems the White House realized how embarrassing the situation is for the president.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
Speaking on ABC, commentator Jim Maxwell described the result as one of the most "embarrassing defeats that Australia have ever suffered in Test cricket".
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
More embarrassing still is that polling of the general public reveals that, as a whole nation, we would actually rather the bin got it.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2026
For Farage, "while it's embarrassing for him to win against a dustbin, and not the mainstream parties, he will return as MP," said Catherine Barnard, a political expert at Cambridge University.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
After my latest embarrassing death in Super Smash Bros.,
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Definitions 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.
