embarrass
verb /ɪmˈbærəs/
/ɪmˈbærəs/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they embarrass | /ɪmˈbærəs/ /ɪmˈbærəs/ |
| he / she / it embarrasses | /ɪmˈbærəsɪz/ /ɪmˈbærəsɪz/ |
| past simple embarrassed | /ɪmˈbærəst/ /ɪmˈbærəst/ |
| past participle embarrassed | /ɪmˈbærəst/ /ɪmˈbærəst/ |
| -ing form embarrassing | /ɪmˈbærəsɪŋ/ /ɪmˈbærəsɪŋ/ |
- to make somebody feel shy, uncomfortable or ashamed, especially in a social situation
- embarrass somebody Her questions about my private life embarrassed me.
- I didn't want to embarrass him by kissing him in front of his friends.
- it embarrasses somebody to do something It embarrassed her to meet strange men in the corridor at night.
- embarrass somebody to cause problems or difficulties for somebody
- The speech was deliberately designed to embarrass the prime minister.
- The scandal has totally embarrassed cricket's governing body.
Word Originearly 17th cent. (originally in the sense ‘to hamper’ or ‘impede (a person or action)’): from French embarrasser, from Spanish embarazar, probably from Portuguese embaraçar (from baraço ‘halter’).