Embarrassing

//ɪmˈbæɹ.ə.sɪŋ// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The action of the verb to embarrass; embarrassment. uncountable, usually

    "May 11, 1715, Robert Wodrow, letter to Mrs Wodrow It seemed, at first, to be agreed, that the King should be addressed by the Assembly; but the time of presenting, because of the present embarrassings of affairs, to be left to the Commission."

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of embarrass form-of, gerund, participle, present
Adjective
  1. 1
    Causing embarrassment; leading to a feeling of uncomfortable shame or self-consciousness.

    "The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad."

Adjective
  1. 1
    hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment wordnet
  2. 2
    causing to feel shame or chagrin or vexation wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
awkwardmortifyingshamefulawkwardawkwardbaffling

Example

More examples

"My stomach started growling right there in the meeting. It was embarrassing."

Etymology

By surface analysis, embarrass + -ing.

Related phrases

self consciousness

More for "embarrassing"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.