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Embarrassed   /ɪmbˈɛrəst/   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
embarrassed  adj.  
1.
Feeling uneasily or unpleasantly self-conscious due to some event or circumstance; as, she was embarrassed by her child's tantrums.
Synonyms: abashed, self-conscious.
2.
Feeling inferior or unworthy and hence unpleasantly self-conscious; as, too embarrassed to say hello to his drunken father on the street.
Synonyms: chagrined, mortified.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Embarrassed" Quotes from Famous Books



... and threatened West Point. His force in this direction was upwards of six thousand rank and file. The communication between General Washington, who was in New-Jersey, and General McDOUGALL, who was at Newburgh, was greatly embarrassed. Bandits were placed by the British in or near the passes through the chains of mountains leading to Sussex, for the purpose of capturing the expresses charged with despatches. At this critical moment Colonel Burr was on a visit to McDOUGALL, who informed him ...
— Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Complete • Matthew L. Davis
... result of this training the children have formed a habit of good behavior and are considered an acquisition to any gathering. They are not embarrassed by the awkward slips and breaks which are so mortifying to those who only wear their company manners on ...
— Pushing to the Front • Orison Swett Marden
... coming now," thought I. Lieutenant Silva looked at first embarrassed, and then a little stern: it was evident, that that which the captain was pleased to designate as highly-toned intellectual conversation was, despite his literary attainments and the pas of superiority, the publishing a book had given him, no ...
— Rattlin the Reefer • Edward Howard
... her morning-room among loudly singing canaries and pots of jonquils; and as he shook hands with her he saw that this old friend, so old and so accustomed that she was like a part of his life, was embarrassed. The wrinkles on her withered, but oddly juvenile, face seemed to have shifted to a pattern of perplexity and pained resolution. He was not embarrassed, though he was beaten and done in a way Mrs. Forrester could not guess at; ...
— Tante • Anne Douglas Sedgwick
... then greeted his queen and presented Kenric to her. This honour so embarrassed the youth that when her Majesty asked him questions concerning his mother he could scarcely utter a ...
— The Thirsty Sword • Robert Leighton


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