embarrass

/ɛmˈbɛrɪs/

/ɛmˈbærəs/

Other forms: embarrassed; embarrassing; embarrasses

If you embarrass someone, you make them feel self-conscious, awkward, or even stupid. Your mom might embarrass you by inviting your date to check out your childhood photos.

Embarrass actually has another meaning, but it's very rarely used: to blockade, hinder, obstruct, or stymie. Nowadays, we tend to embarrass one another (and ourselves) by pretty much sticking to the basics: making fun of our friends when they blunder, accidentally revealing secrets in public, confessing our undying love to people who don't even know we exist, and all the millions of creative and frustrating ways we have of making mistakes.

Definitions of embarrass

1. verb

   cause to be embarrassed; cause to feel self-conscious
   synonyms: abash

   types:

   confuse, disconcert, flurry, put off

   cause to feel embarrassment

   fluster

   cause to be nervous or upset

   bother

   make confused or perplexed or puzzled

   deflect, distract

   draw someone's attention away from something

   type of:

   discomfit, discompose, disconcert, rattle, untune, upset

   cause to lose one's composure
2. verb

   hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
   synonyms: block, blockade, hinder, obstruct, stymie, stymy

   types:

   stonewall

   obstruct or hinder any discussion

   filibuster

   obstruct deliberately by delaying

   check

   block or impede (a player from the opposing team) in ice hockey

   hang

   prevent from reaching a verdict, of a jury

   bottleneck

   slow down or impede by creating an obstruction

   type of:

   forbid, foreclose, forestall, preclude, preempt, prevent

   keep from happening or arising; make impossible