embarrassing

adjective

em·bar·rass·ing | \ im-ˈber-ə-siŋ

, -ˈba-rə-\

Definition of embarrassing

: causing a feeling of self-conscious confusion and distress : causing embarrassment an embarrassing error The official was ever so polite, and ever so sorry, but the rule was strict, and he could not let us in. It was very embarrassing, for many eyes were on us.— Mark Twain

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Examples of embarrassing in a Sentence

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That’s far more embarrassing than losing by a lopsided score. — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "Doc's Morning Line: Here's why the U.S. women's soccer World Cup team did the right thing," 13 June 2019 How truly embarrassing for all the people who thought handbags were invented to carry around trivial necessities like your wallet, lipstick, and keys? — Lauren Alexis Fisher, Harper's BAZAAR, "Gigi Hadid Carrying Nothing But a Bottle of Rosé in Her Bag Is a Real Mood," 10 Sep. 2018 His opposition would be an embarrassing and likely fatal setback. — CBS News, "White House says Trump supports "moderate" GOP immigration bill after confusion," 16 June 2018 Baker’s answer to that embarrassing setback was to try to isolate Lively from the party mainstream. — Frank Phillips, BostonGlobe.com, "For Lively, a difficult court fight against state GOP," 12 June 2018 The farm bill vote was an embarrassing setback for lame-duck House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has sought to blunt the internal GOP rift over DACA by offering to bring more Republican-friendly immigration proposals to the floor next month. — Kevin Diaz, San Antonio Express-News, "House moderate rebellion keeps pushing for a DACA fix," 21 May 2018 But Chad Kroeger and his faceless comrades have also become a symbol of everything terrible – or mundane, or embarrassing, or indefensible – in this sad, defeated world. — Jeffrey Lee Puckett, The Courier-Journal, "Matt Bevin brutally dismissed by Kentucky teacher with sign: 'Bevin Listens to Nickelback'," 5 Apr. 2018 In recent months, President Buhari has suffered embarrassing setbacks. — Jonathan Gopep, Dionne Searcey And Emmanuel Akinwotu, New York Times, "Boko Haram’s Seizure of 110 Girls Taunts Nigeria, and Its Leader," 18 Mar. 2018 In an embarrassing setback for Vanderbilt family scion Anderson Cooper, CNN announced Thursday that Cooper’s in-house rival, Chris Cuomo, will be taking over its ratings challenged 9 p.m. hour. — Brian Flood, Fox News, "CNN slashes Anderson Cooper’s program as network hopes to make room for anti-Trump Chris Cuomo," 14 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'embarrassing.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.