embarrass
Syllables: em·bar·rassUK/ɪmˈbæɹəs//ɪmˈbɛɹəs/
embarrass verb: to disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely.
Verb
embarrass (third-person singular simple present embarrasses, present participle embarrassing, simple past and past participle embarrassed)
- To disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely.
- The crowd's laughter and jeers embarrassed him.
- To hinder from liberty of movement; to impede; to obstruct.
- The motion was advanced in order to embarrass the progress of the bill.
- If they [registers] act It all, it must be by opposing their flat surfaces to the current of rising smoke in a manner which cannot fail to embarrass and impede its motion..1796, Benjamin Count of Rumford, “Of Chimney Fire-places”, in Essays, Political, Economical and Philosophical, page 330
- To involve in difficulties concerning money matters; to encumber with debt; to beset with urgent claims or demands.
- A man or his business is embarrassed when he cannot meet his pecuniary engagements.
- To perplex mentally; confuse, disconcert; catch off guard.
Proper noun capitalized: Embarrass
Embarrass
- A river in Minnesota, a tributary of the Saint Louis River.
- A river in Wisconsin, a tributary of the Wolf River.
- A township in Edgar County, Illinois.
- A township and unincorporated community therein, in St. Louis County, Minnesota.
- A village in Waupaca County, Wisconsin, located on the above river.
embarrass meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
embarrass in Tamil
- to humiliate
- மனதிற்கு தொல்லை கொடு maṉatiṟku tollai koṭu
embarrass in Urdu
- خجل کرنا, مصیبت میں ڈالنا, شرمندہ کرنا, الجھانا
embarrass in Bengali
- অপ্রস্তুত করা, লজ্জিত করা
embarrass in Malayalam
- ചമ്മിക്കുക, നാണം കെടുത്തുക, കഷ്ടപ്പെടുത്തുക
More languagesFewer languages
- embarrass in Kannada
- ಅವಮಾನಗೊಳ್ಳುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡು, ತಡೆಯೊಡ್ಡು, ಪೇಚಿಗೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿಸು, ದಿಕ್ಕು ತೋಚದಂತೆ ಮಾಡು
- embarrass in Arabic
- أَخْجَلَ ʔaḵjala
- embarrass in Malay
- memalukan
- embarrass in Vietnamese
- làm xấu hổ
Examples of embarrass in a sentence
- Middle-aged men who embarrass their children with flamboyant dance moves now have the perfect excuse – evolution.
- If the strippers learn that there is a bachelor party, they will often call the groom onstage and publicly embarrass him.
- Children embarrass us because they point ever too cleverly and clearly to our denial of personal, material, and maternal history.
Synonyms of embarrass
Forms of embarrass
| third-person singular present | embarrasses |
|---|---|
| present participle | embarrassing |
| past participle | embarrassed |
| past | embarrassed |
Origin of embarrass
Borrowed from French embarrasser, from Middle French embarrasser, embarasser (“to embarrass; to block, obstruct”), from Spanish embarazar, either from Italian imbarazzare or from Portuguese embaraçar.
Apparently from French embarrasser (“block, impede, obstruct”). The name was probably applied to the rivers first.
Words formed from embarrass
Words that rhyme with embarrass
Questions about embarrass
- What does embarrass mean?
- Embarrass means to disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely.
- What is embarrass in Tamil?
- Embarrass in Tamil is மனதிற்கு தொல்லை கொடு (maṉatiṟku tollai koṭu). See Embarrass meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is embarrass?
- Embarrass can be a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce embarrass?
- Embarrass is pronounced /ɪmˈbæɹəs/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of embarrass?
- The past tense of embarrass is embarrassed.
Words near embarrass in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: embarrass (page history and authors); Embarrass (page history and authors); embarrass (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); embarrass (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); embarrass (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); embarrass (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-embarrass.ogg.
Cite this entry: “embarrass.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/embarrass. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.