embarrass
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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)
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)
-
embarrassedadjective
-
unembarrassedadjective
-
embarrassedlyadverb
-
embarrassinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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embarrasssimple
-
embarrassessimple
-
have embarrassedperfect
-
has embarrassedperfect
-
am embarrassingprogressive
-
are embarrassingprogressive
-
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
-
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:
She said the "really concerning" cases were times when "the customer is disgruntled about something that's happened... they confront the shop worker, film and upload it in order to embarrass the retailer".
From BBC ● Jun. 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
The leaks that embarrass leaders usually aren’t about confidential business initiatives.
From MarketWatch ● May 6, 2026
This is not revelation: The defense secretary is well known for preening for the cameras with a level of self-regard that would embarrass most supermodels.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2026
Maxine is acting like she’s afraid that if I open my mouth, I’ll say the wrong thing, embarrass her or something.
From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson
I guess he is about 80, but the answer he gives embarrasses me.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2025
Nothing embarrasses Bella Baxter, the toddler-brained dervish of Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 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
When I lived here as a teen, I wanted nothing more than to assimilate, to achieve what was expected of me, a fact that embarrasses me now.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2023
“Just take care of this one before he embarrasses me all over Coalwood.”
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
The prosecution put to Spencer that it had appeared to look celebratory, but Spencer told the jury he had been embarrassed and made the gesture after the woman pushed him away.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 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
“I was embarrassed by her because she was a joke,” Steinem told Gail Levin, who directed a documentary about the screen icon for “American Masters.”
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
She must also have been embarrassed and possibly humiliated by her employer behaving like this behind her back.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
And the fact that Rachel was now going around making people think I had embarrassed her the other day.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
“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
It’s the most embarrassing photo of me ever though.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
This includes Dolan’s fronting of an embarrassing blues-rock band, often while sporting a fedora, and he inflicts his music on audiences by installing himself as the opener for acts like the Eagles.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
It was about more than the 4-1 score or occasionally embarrassing lapses in skill.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
“I’ve listened to an embarrassing amount of pop music from the 1990s, but I don’t ever recall encountering this,” Ridge said.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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.
