embarrass
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause confusion and shame to; make uncomfortably self-conscious; disconcert; abash.
His bad table manners embarrassed her.
- Synonyms:
- chagrin, discomfit, discompose
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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)
verb
-
(also intr) to feel or cause to feel confusion or self-consciousness; disconcert; fluster
-
(usually passive) to involve in financial difficulties
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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)
-
embarrassedadjective
-
unembarrassedadjective
-
embarrassedlyadverb
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embarrassinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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embarrasssimple
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embarrassessimple
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have embarrassedperfect
-
has embarrassedperfect
-
am embarrassingprogressive
-
are embarrassingprogressive
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is embarrassingprogressive
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have been embarrassingperfect progressive
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has been embarrassingperfect progressive
Past
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embarrassedsimple
-
had embarrassedperfect
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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
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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:
“In a Charley Chase film life often seems like a stream of unfortunate coincidences designed primarily to embarrass, incriminate, or otherwise inconvenience Chase in his bid to be a good solid citizen.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 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
But he's also very loud and he does bear grudges: he will undoubtedly continue to swing punches at OpenAI and attempt to embarrass it from his social network X.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
Also, don’t embarrass your friend or shame her daughter by mentioning it to your friend, even in passing.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 13, 2026
Money seemed to embarrass her, and though she was obviously quite well off, she preferred to pretend otherwise.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
I guess he is about 80, but the answer he gives embarrasses me.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2025
No one embarrasses himself — it’s all polished, pleasant, anonymous and unobjectionable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2024
It does not help and often confuses them, not to mention embarrasses them.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
"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
Me shrinking away from his touch embarrasses me in a way I don’t entirely understand.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
Feeling embarrassed is a natural human response, but social media has altered how big the audience watching the moment is, said Burnett.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
An embarrassed Wegner said he had played tennis to "clear my head" but this cut little ice with furious voters.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
She must also have been embarrassed and possibly humiliated by her employer behaving like this behind her back.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
Tourists and expats from even the hottest U.S. states are embarrassed to say they can’t handle the record-breaking temperatures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
I know the impression I’m leaving: that the word was a bad word, sordid in nature, that I’m too embarrassed to say it out loud to him.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
“It’s embarrassing if you don’t come with one,” Kirsty Downes, 35, said as several other Pitbull lookalikes strode through Hyde Park on the way to the show.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The 21-year-old is "hyper aware" while in nightclubs - avoiding promoters' cameras and watching for strangers filming - fully aware that any embarrassing moments could end up as content.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
The embarrassing stories keep coming because the sources keep talking.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
It’s the most embarrassing photo of me ever though.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
It wasn’t just that this was all profoundly embarrassing, though that was certainly part of it.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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.
