embarrassment
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪmˈbæɹəsmənt/
Noun
embarrassment (countable and uncountable, plural embarrassments)
- A state of discomfort arising from bashfulness or consciousness of having violated a social rule; humiliation.
- A state of confusion arising from hesitation or difficulty in choosing.
- A person or thing which is the cause of humiliation to another.
- Kevin, you are an embarrassment to this family.
- Losing this highly publicized case was an embarrassment to the firm.
- 2014 August 21, “A brazen heist in Paris [print version: International New York Times, 22 August 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times:
- The audacious hijacking in Paris of a van carrying the baggage of a Saudi prince to his private jet is obviously an embarrassment to the French capital, whose ultra-high-end boutiques have suffered a spate of heists in recent months.
- A large collection of good or valuable things, especially one that exceeds requirements.
- 1914, Collier's, page 30
- There are over 5,000 Americans now in Paris, many artists, singers, musicians, writers, and actors, so many, indeed, the committee could hardly pick a program from an embarrassment of volunteers.
- 1996, David Morgan Evans, Peter Salway, David Thackray, The Remains of Distant Times: Archaeology and the National Trust, Boydell & Brewer →ISBN, page 188
- The landscape presented an embarrassment of riches for the industrial archaeologist, and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century remains were still visible in abundance
- 2013, Frank Boccia, The Crouching Beast: A United States Army Lieutenant's Account of the Battle for Hamburger Hill, May 1969, McFarland →ISBN, page 256
- At one time, I reflected, we'd had an embarrassment of good, qualified squad leader—ready men in the platoon.
- 1914, Collier's, page 30
- (medicine) Impairment of function due to disease: respiratory embarrassment.
- (dated) Difficulty in financial matters; poverty.
Derived terms
Terms derived from "embarrassment"
Translations
state of discomfort
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state of confusion
Further reading
- embarrassment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- embarrassment in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
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