Word.ws English Dictionary

fremdschämen

fremdschämen noun: a feeling of vicarious embarrassment for another.

Noun

fremdschämen (uncountable)

  1. (informal) A feeling of vicarious embarrassment for another.
    • Though the Fremdschämen (or even Schadenfreude) of series like Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Office was the comedy trend of the 2000s, the 2010s have produced a kinder, gentler approach.2013, Jessica Decou, Playful, Glad and Free: Karl Barth and a Theology of Popular Culture, Fortress Press, page 205
    • Perhaps it had looked down on my sad attempt at seduction and fled when overwhelmed by my fremdschämen.2019, Alyssa Cole, Signal Boost, Carina Press

Forms of fremdschämen

alternative formFremdschämen

Origin of fremdschämen

Borrowed from German Fremdschämen (verb) or Fremdschämen (noun).

Questions about fremdschämen

What does fremdschämen mean?
Fremdschämen means a feeling of vicarious embarrassment for another.
What part of speech is fremdschämen?
Fremdschämen is a noun.

Words near fremdschämen in the dictionary

  1. fremdest
  2. fremdling
  3. fremdlings
  4. fremdly
  5. fremds
  6. fremdschämen
  7. fremedly
  8. fremescence
  9. fremescent
  10. fremeses
  11. fremesis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fremdschämen (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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Cite this entry: “fremdschämen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fremdsch%C3%A4men. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.