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Embarrassing   /ɪmbˈɛrəsɪŋ/   Listen
verb
Embarrass  v. t.  (past & past part. embarrassed; pres. part. embarrassing)  
1.
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.
Synonyms: abash, discompose, disconcert, discomfit, chagrin.
2.
To hinder from liberty of movement; to impede; to obstruct; as, business is embarrassed; public affairs are embarrassed.
Synonyms: obstruct, blockade, block, hinder, stymie.
3.
(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.
Synonyms: To hinder; perplex; entangle; confuse; puzzle; disconcert; abash; distress. To Embarrass, Puzzle, Perplex. We are puzzled when our faculties are confused by something we do not understand. We are perplexed when our feelings, as well as judgment, are so affected that we know not how to decide or act. We are embarrassed when there is some bar or hindrance upon us which impedes our powers of thought, speech, or motion. A schoolboy is puzzled by a difficult sum; a reasoner is perplexed by the subtleties of his opponent; a youth is sometimes so embarrassed before strangers as to lose his presence of mind.


adjective
embarrassing  adj.  
1.
Hard to deal with; as, greeted with an embarrassing silence.
Synonyms: awkward, disconcerting, off-putting, sticky, tight, unenviable.
2.
Causing to feel shame or chagrin or vexation.
Synonyms: mortifying, shame-making.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Embarrassing" Quotes from Famous Books



... up his kit and sailed away. Not many months passed ere he met his colonel again, and under rather embarrassing circumstances. ...
— The Man on the Box • Harold MacGrath
... that may be taken for granted?' said Mr. Magnus; 'because, if she did not do that at the right place, it would be embarrassing.' ...
— The Pickwick Papers • Charles Dickens
... position to be very embarrassing. She had thought it out to the best of her ability, and had told herself that it would be better for her not to acquaint her father with all the circumstances. Had he been told the nature of the offer made to her by Madame Socani, he would at once, she thought, have ...
— The Landleaguers • Anthony Trollope
... inside, readily afforded him ample elbow room; and, smiling agreeably at every one, including the conductor (who resented his good-humor) and a pretty girl in the corner seat (who found it embarrassing) he proceeded to Charing Cross. Descending from the 'bus, he passed out into Leicester Square and plunged into the network of streets which complicates the map of Soho. It will be of interest to ...
— The Yellow Claw • Sax Rohmer
... began his work as a teacher, is still standing, while some of the boys and girls who received instruction from him that term are yet alive to testify to his faithfulness as a common-school teacher. He was quite a young man at that time, in fact, he was still in his teens, and it must have been rather embarrassing for him to attempt to teach young men and women, some of them older than himself; but he was honest in his efforts to try to do his best, and, as is always the case under such circumstances, ...
— Stories Worth Rereading • Various


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