embarrass

Borrowed from French embarracer (“to block, to obstruct”), from Spanish embaracer, either

• from Portuguese embaracer, from em- (“in”) (from Latin im-) + barace or baraço (“noose, rope”), or
• from Italian imbarazzare, from imbarazzo (“obstacle, obstruction”), from imbarrare (“to block, bar”), from im- (“in”) + barra (“bar”), from Vulgar Latin barra, of unknown origin. More at bar.

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈbæ.ɹəs/
• (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈbɛ(ə).ɹəs/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ærəs

embarrass (third-person singular simple present embarrasses, present participle embarrassing, simple past and past participle embarrassed)

1. (transitive) to humiliate; to disrupt somebody's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely; to disconcert; to abash

   The crowd's laughter and jeers embarrassed him.

2. (transitive) To hinder from liberty of movement; to impede; to obstruct.

   Business is embarrassed; public affairs are embarrassed.

3. (transitive) 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.

• (humiliate): abash, discomfit, disconcert, humiliate, shame
• See also Thesaurus:abash

• embarrassment

• embarrass in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• embarrass in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.