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
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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)
-
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
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embarrassedlyadverb
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embarrassinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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embarrasssimple
-
embarrassessimple
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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:
They resorted to the common, if infantile tactic of asking repeated simple but irrelevant questions in an attempt to embarrass their target.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 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
Also, don’t embarrass your friend or shame her daughter by mentioning it to your friend, even in passing.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 13, 2026
“All this money we spend on your party, and you act like this and embarrass us?”
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
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
No one embarrasses himself — it’s all polished, pleasant, anonymous and unobjectionable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 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
You can tell a true war story if it embarrasses you.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
“Some may be embarrassed, some may be quizzical.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
“I’m usually not embarrassed doing comedy,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
What financial skill do you feel like you “should” have by now but are too embarrassed to ask about?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
In January, Ward said he was "not embarrassed" after his restaurant was given a one-star food hygiene rating following an inspection in November 2025.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
He was embarrassed that he’d gotten so emotional.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
As a City fan, this is getting embarrassing, Arsenal are levels above us.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Part of Ferrell’s man-child trilogy with Adam McKay, the film follows a blowhard racecar driver as he works his way back to the winner’s circle following a dramatic and embarrassing wreck.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 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
Looking to avoid an embarrassing L, the committee postponed the Blanche vote, which had been scheduled for Thursday.
From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026
It was a little embarrassing, since Rabiya and Soojin were the only ones who ever said stuff like that to me before.
From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan
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.
