embarrass
verb
Did you know?
If you’ve ever felt frozen, unable to move, or like a deer in the proverbial headlights when embarrassed by something, then the origins of the verb embarrass will make a great deal of sense. When embarrass first entered English from French in the late 16th century, it was used for the action of hampering or impeding the progress of someone or something—figuratively tying them up. No wonder then that embarrass comes ultimately from the Portuguese verb embaraçar, which adds the prefix em- to the noun baraça, meaning “noose” or “rope.” This “hampering” sense of embarrass, and others related to restricting, impairing, or burdening of one sort or other, are still in use today, but they’re less common than the “to make someone feel confused and foolish in front of other people” sense is.
Did you know?
Embarrass: Its Spelling and Use
Are you here because you spelled embarrass wrong? Don't be embarrassed.
Instead, remember that the word embarrass got those embarrassing r's and s's from the French: English embarrass comes from the French word embarrasser.
When used as an active verb, embarrass is most often seen in constructions like "x embarrasses/embarrassed me/them." The word is also very commonly used as a passive verb. In such cases, the preposition by is a frequent companion:
Private companies were embarrassed by being shown to co-operate with the American authorities.
— The Economist, 12 Nov. 2016Teenagers are always easily embarrassed by their parents.
— Farley Granger, Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway, 2007In that moment, I know I have begun to assign the termites the powers of volition and desire, the experiences of pain and regret. I am embarrassed by this, and dare not mention it to the scientists.
— Duncan Murrell, Harper's, August 2005
People are also regularly embarrassed about something:
His attorney said he was embarrassed about the incident and didn't want anybody to notice him.
— Richard Martin, The Atlantic Monthly, June 2001Fiction has no reason to be embarrassed about telling the same story again and again, since we all, with infinite variations, live the same story.
— John Simon, The New Republic, 21 Nov. 1983
Sometimes they're embarrassed (or not) on someone's behalf—that is, they're embarrassed for someone:
Nobody ever felt embarrassed for Yoko Ono.
— Bruno Maddox, Spy, November 1996
They're less commonly embarrassed at something:
She would be deeply embarrassed at my admiration, more so at my naming her in print.
— Nancy Harmon Jenkins, The New York Times Magazine, 4 May 1986His cogent reasoning made me embarrassed at my own first reaction….
—David Greenberg, The New Republic, 14 Nov. 1994
Occasionally, and by some measures increasingly, people are embarrassed of something, as in "They're embarrassed of the way it happened." This use is not yet common in published, edited text and is considered by some to be a mistake.
Examples of embarrass in a Sentence
Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2025
The New York Mets fell short of the postseason in embarrassing fashion last season, so this offseason is going to be more important than ever.
—Zach Pressnell, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Oct. 2025
The games themselves are embarrassing enough to watch.
—Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
One agent was disciplined for insubordination after refusing to go along with the plan to embarrass Comey in this way.
—The Conversation, 8 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for embarrass
Cite this Entry
“Embarrass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/embarrass. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
embarrass
verb
Medical Definition
embarrass
transitive verb
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