embarrassment
/ɪmˈbæɹ.əs.mənt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.77 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A state of discomfort arising from bashfulness or consciousness of having violated a social rule; humiliation.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A large collection of good or valuable things, especially one that exceeds requirements or causes some sort of hindrance.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The desired effect [of affectionate teasing] is a look of pleasurable embarrassment, as if you administered a compliment. Anyone who doesn't stop teasing immediately upon producing real embarrassment, anger or tears is not really teasing."
- "Jack, you are an embarrassment to this family."
- "Losing this highly publicized case was an embarrassment to the firm."
- "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."
- "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."
- "The landscape presented an embarrassment of riches for the industrial archaeologist, and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century remains were still visible in abundance"
Etymology
Etymology tree Akkadian 𒆟 (rakāsum) Akkadian 𒄙 (markasu)bor. Classical Syriac ܡܰܪܫܳܐ (maršā)bor. Arabic مَرَسَة (marasa)der. Old Galician-Portuguese baraço Old Galician-Portuguese embaraçarbor. Old Spanish embaraçar Spanish embarazarbor. French embarrasserbor. English embarrass Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-mentom Latin -mentum Old French -mentbor. Middle English -ment English -ment English embarrassment From embarrass + -ment.