embarrass
Definitions
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WordNet 3.6
- v embarrass cause to be embarrassed; cause to feel self-conscious
- v embarrass hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of "His brother blocked him at every turn"
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Interesting fact: When Scott Paper Co. first started manufacturing toilet paper they did not put their name on the product because of embarrassment
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- n Embarrass Embarrassment.
- Embarrass To hinder from freedom of thought, speech, or action by something which impedes or confuses mental action; to make (a person) unpleasantly self-conscious; to perplex; to discompose; to disconcert; as, laughter may embarrass an orator.
- Embarrass To hinder from liberty of movement; to impede; to obstruct; as, business is embarrassed; public affairs are embarrassed.
- Embarrass (Com) To involve in difficulties concerning money matters; to incumber with debt; to beset with urgent claims or demands; -- said of a person or his affairs; as, a man or his business is embarrassed when he can not meet his pecuniary engagements.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- v.t Embarrass em-bar′as to encumber: to involve in difficulty, esp. in money matters: to perplex
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Quotations
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“The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.” -
“Do not run a campaign that would embarrass your mother.” -
“He scratched his ear, the infallible resource to which embarrassed people have recourse.” -
“Some people play very, very well just so they won't get embarrassed.”
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“If you're never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances.”
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“I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment.”
Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
F. embarrasser,cf. Sp. embarazar, Pg. embaraçar, Pr. barras, bar); pref. em-,L. in,) + LL. barra, bar. See Bar
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Fr. embarrasser—em, in, barre, bar.
Usage
In literature:
But treating the matter lightly did not rid Elizabeth of her shame and embarrassment.
"Elizabeth Hobart at Exeter Hall" by Jean K. Baird
Tom was crimson with embarrassment.
"Madge Morton's Victory" by Amy D.V. Chalmers
It would be hard to tell which was the most amazed and embarrassed, the superintendent or the girls whom Flossy left looking after her.
"The Chautauqua Girls At Home" by Pansy, AKA Isabella M. Alden
These entertainments cost money, which Mazarin was greatly embarrassed in obtaining.
"Louis XIV., Makers of History Series" by John S. C. Abbott
Prussia, with her Zollverein, was preparing embarrassments for us.
"Sentimental Education, Volume II" by Gustave Flaubert
The split, so far as founded upon honest divergence in legal theory, was embarrassing.
"The New Nation" by Frederic L. Paxson
His embarrassments were great; his property was strictly tied up; and he was on very bad terms with the heir-at-law.
"Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3)" by Thomas Babington Macaulay
The embarrassment over money filled her with wretchedness.
"The Scarlet Feather" by Houghton Townley
The duke, having exhausted the resources at his disposal, found himself in truly an embarrassing situation.
"Louis Philippe" by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
The school giggled, poor Rosie blushed, and in a spasm of embarrassment strove to take them.
"'Lizbeth of the Dale" by Marian Keith
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In poetry:
Of all the tiresome steeds that are
The jibber is the worst by far.
He stands and contemplates the scene--
An act embarrassing and mean.
The jibber is the worst by far.
He stands and contemplates the scene--
An act embarrassing and mean.
"Jibbing" by Mary Tourtel
'She serves me: now she rises,
Goes to play….
But you obstruct her, fill her
With dismay,
And embarrassed, scared, she vanishes away!'
Goes to play….
But you obstruct her, fill her
With dismay,
And embarrassed, scared, she vanishes away!'
"The Re-Enactment" by Thomas Hardy
His morning of life may be cheerless and dull,
His manhood embarrass'd with ill,
His evening comfortless, friendless, and sad,
And his death-bed be glorious still.
His manhood embarrass'd with ill,
His evening comfortless, friendless, and sad,
And his death-bed be glorious still.
"The Setting Sun" by Caroline Fry
Minnie and Maud across my Flight will wing,
Birdie and Bess and Gwendolyn will bring
A Score of Other Pasts and make a Scene,
To say the Least, a Bit Embarrassing.
Birdie and Bess and Gwendolyn will bring
A Score of Other Pasts and make a Scene,
To say the Least, a Bit Embarrassing.
"The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám Jr." by Wallace Irwin
THEY carried ladders for the escalade,
And each was furnished with a tempered blade;
No other thing embarrassing they'd got;
No drums; but all was silent as the grot.
And each was furnished with a tempered blade;
No other thing embarrassing they'd got;
No drums; but all was silent as the grot.
"The Princess Betrothed To The King Of Garba" by Jean de La Fontaine
As for those Poltroons, howe'er high their Station;
Who, as Cowards,—or Knaves,—embarrass the Nation;
Who Fighting avoid,—or when Fighting do run;
Let them swing in a Halter, or die by a Gun.
Who, as Cowards,—or Knaves,—embarrass the Nation;
Who Fighting avoid,—or when Fighting do run;
Let them swing in a Halter, or die by a Gun.
"An Antigallican Song" by Cornelius Arnold
In news:
His life was an embarrassment of riches.
David Ortiz ' humiliated ' and 'embarrassed' by offseason.
Roger Clemens was thoroughly embarrassed by the Mets.
Every Hollywood star has experienced some form of public embarrassment, but a few of those horridly humiliating moments have been caught on camera.
The long, embarrassing end to John Edwards' political career may have another chapter after all.
Pete Hoekstra's hyperbole is plain silly and embarrassing.
Threat of embarrassment forces Alli users to eat healthy — or else.
Rob McKenna's 'I Am Not Scott Walker' Tape Leaked By Dems to Embarrass GOP (Video).
Knicks-Hawks preview: Can New York improve upon Friday's embarrassment.
That's how embarrassing this season has become.
Broncos videotape scandal results in fine , embarrassment.
A laugh, sneeze or cough is all it takes to trigger an embarrassing problem.
For some people a simple sneeze, laugh or cough can cause an embarrassing outcome.
Urinary incontinence (in-CON-tin-ince), or the involuntary loss of bladder control, affects many people, but because it's an embarrassing condition to discuss with a physician, many never seek treatment.
There are at least 20 million people in the United States with a sometimes embarrassing problem.
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In science:
Most of the theoretical studies operate in the shadow of the cosmological constant problem, the most embarrassing hierarchy problem in physics.
The Science, Technology and Mission Design for the Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity
Most of the theoretical studies operate in the shadow of the cosmological constant problem, the most embarrassing hierarchy problem in physics.
Science, Technology and Mission Design for the Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity
Indeed, the agreement between the two approaches is somewhat embarrassing — we have superp lotted waveforms produced by the “kludge” on the strong field results in Figs. 1 and 2.
(Sort of) Testing relativity with extreme mass ratio inspirals
As in Fig. 1, the kludge matches the strong- fie ld embarrassingly well.
(Sort of) Testing relativity with extreme mass ratio inspirals
Renormalizable perturbative quantum field theories are embarrassingly successful in describing observed physics.
Not so non-renormalizable gravity
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