embarrass
verb
Did you know?
Embarrass comes from Portuguese embaraçar, whose prefix (em-) is from Latin in- and whose base word means "noose." Although embarrass has had various meanings related to acts that hinder or impede, these days it most often implies making someone feel or look foolish.
Did you know?
Embarrass: Its Spelling and Use
Are you here because you spelled embarrass wrong? Don't be embarrassed.
Instead, remember that the word embarrass got those embarrassing r's and s's from the French: English embarrass comes from the French word embarrasser.
When used as an active verb, embarrass is most often seen in constructions like "x embarrasses/embarrassed me/them." The word is also very commonly used as a passive verb. In such cases, the preposition by is a frequent companion:
Private companies were embarrassed by being shown to co-operate with the American authorities.
— The Economist, 12 Nov. 2016Teenagers are always easily embarrassed by their parents.
— Farley Granger, Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway, 2007In that moment, I know I have begun to assign the termites the powers of volition and desire, the experiences of pain and regret. I am embarrassed by this, and dare not mention it to the scientists.
— Duncan Murrell, Harper's, August 2005
People are also regularly embarrassed about something:
His attorney said he was embarrassed about the incident and didn't want anybody to notice him.
— Richard Martin, The Atlantic Monthly, June 2001Fiction has no reason to be embarrassed about telling the same story again and again, since we all, with infinite variations, live the same story.
— John Simon, The New Republic, 21 Nov. 1983
Sometimes they're embarrassed (or not) on someone's behalf—that is, they're embarrassed for someone:
Nobody ever felt embarrassed for Yoko Ono.
— Bruno Maddox, Spy, November 1996
They're less commonly embarrassed at something:
She would be deeply embarrassed at my admiration, more so at my naming her in print.
— Nancy Harmon Jenkins, The New York Times Magazine, 4 May 1986His cogent reasoning made me embarrassed at my own first reaction….
—David Greenberg, The New Republic, 14 Nov. 1994
Occasionally, and by some measures increasingly, people are embarrassed of something, as in "They're embarrassed of the way it happened." This use is not yet common in published, edited text and is considered by some to be a mistake.
Synonyms
Examples of embarrass in a Sentence
Leslie Katz, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
The flashback also goes to establish a new-to-us enemy, Detective Bishop, played by Mindhunter’s Holt McCallany, whom Haller embarrasses during a pivotal cross examination.
—Carita Rizzo, TVLine, 17 Oct. 2024
This is the price of a rapid advance in global notoriety: Masses rush to familiarize, align, and occasionally embarrass themselves.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 11 Oct. 2024
Once again, get ready to avoid embarrassing the CFO.
—Martha Amram, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for embarrass 
Dictionary Entries Near embarrass
Cite this Entry
“Embarrass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/embarrass. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.
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embarrass
verb
Medical Definition
embarrass
transitive verb
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