embarrassing
verb
Form of embarrass , present participle of embarrass.
Simple meaning
To humiliate; to disrupt somebody's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihmbehruhsingSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪmˈbɛɹəsɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
present participle of embarrass
To humiliate; to disrupt somebody's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely; to abash.
present participle of embarrasstransitiveformal
To perplex mentally; confuse, disconcert; catch off guard.
present participle of embarrass
To hinder from liberty of movement; to impede; to obstruct.
present participle of embarrass
To involve in difficulties concerning money matters; to encumber with debt; to beset with urgent claims or demands.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To humiliate; to disrupt somebody's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely; to abash.
Used this way, embarrassing is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.