gênen.1
/ʒɛn/, U.S. /ʒɛn/ Constraint, embarrassment, discomfort.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > state of being harassed > [noun]
drovinga1400
vexation1413
molestation1435
inquietation1461
inquieting1527
hershipc1540
pesterment1593
gêne1787
harassment1893
the mind > emotion > humility > feeling of shame > [noun] > embarrassment
embarras1627
constraint1706
embarrassment1751
gêne1787
1787 W. Beckford Portuguese Jrnl. 17 Oct. (1954) 233 They experience all the gêne of sultans, without their power or their luxuries.
1817 H. C. B. Campbell Jrnl. 17 Oct. in Journey to Florence (1951) 108 I dislike seeing such things in a crowd particularly in an English one. There is a certain gêne which they always occasion.
1853 E. Bulwer-Lytton My Novel II. vii. xxi. 283 This will prevent a great deal of gêne and constraint.
1914 P. G. Wodehouse Man Upstairs 257 The advent of an unbidden guest rarely fails to produce a certain gêne.
1953 R. A. Knox Off Record p. ix He is condemned to listen to one side of a telephone conversation, with something of the gêne which that exercise entails.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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