[syn: embarrassed, humiliated, mortified]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Embarrass \Em*bar"rass\ ([e^]m*b[a^]r"ras), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
Embarrassed ([e^]m*b[a^]r"rast); p. pr. & vb. n.
Embarrassing.] [F. embarrasser (cf. Sp. embarazar, Pg.
embara[,c]ar, Pr. barras bar); pref. em- (L. in) + LL. barra
bar. See Bar.]
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. [WordNet sense 1]
Syn: abash, discompose, disconcert, discomfit, chagrin. [1913
Webster +PJC]
2. To hinder from liberty of movement; to impede; to
obstruct; as, business is embarrassed; public affairs are
embarrassed. [WordNet sense 2]
Syn: obstruct, blockade, block, hinder, stymie. [1913
Webster]
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.
Syn: 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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
embarrassed \embarrassed\ adj.
1. feeling uneasily or unpleasantly self-conscious due to
some event or circumstance; as, she was embarrassed by her
child's tantrums.
Syn: abashed, self-conscious.
[WordNet 1.5]
2. feeling inferior or unworthy and hence unpleasantly
self-conscious; as, too embarrassed to say hello to his
drunken father on the street.
Syn: chagrined, mortified.
[WordNet 1.5]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
embarrassed
adj 1: feeling or caused to feel uneasy and self-conscious;
"felt abashed at the extravagant praise"; "chagrined at
the poor sales of his book"; "was embarrassed by her
child's tantrums" [syn: abashed, chagrined,
embarrassed]
2: made to feel uncomfortable because of shame or wounded pride;
"too embarrassed to say hello to his drunken father on the
street"; "humiliated that his wife had to go out to work";
"felt mortified by the comparison with her sister" [syn:
embarrassed, humiliated, mortified]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
142 Moby Thesaurus words for "embarrassed":
abashed, abroad, adrift, afflicted, agitated, annoyed, anxious,
ashamed, astray, at sea, badly off, balled-up, beset, bewildered,
blushful, blushing, bothered, broke, burdened with debt, cast down,
chagrined, chaotic, chapfallen, clueless, confused, crestfallen,
crushed, deep in debt, discomfited, discomforted, discomposed,
disconcerted, disgraced, dismayed, disordered, disorganized,
disoriented, disquieted, distracted, distraught, distressed,
disturbed, down to bedrock, encumbered, feeling the pinch, flushed,
flustered, fluttered, fussed, guessing, hangdog, harassed, hard up,
humbled, humiliated, hung up, ill at ease, ill off, impecunious,
in Queer Street, in a fix, in a jumble, in a maze, in a pickle,
in a pother, in a pucker, in a scrape, in a stew, in a sweat,
in a swivet, in a tizzy, in debt, in difficulties,
in embarrassed circumstances, in hock, in narrow circumstances,
in reduced circumstances, in straitened circumstances, in the hole,
in the red, inconvenienced, indebted, insolvent, involved, irked,
jumbled, land-poor, lost, mazed, mixed-up, mortgaged, mortified,
narrow, off the track, on the edge, out of countenance,
out of pocket, perplexed, perturbed, pinched, plagued,
plunged in debt, poor, poorly off, put to it, put-out, put-upon,
puzzled, rattled, red, red-faced, reduced, ruddy, ruffled,
self-conscious, shaken, shamed, shamefaced, shamefast, sheepish,
shook, short, short of cash, short of funds, short of money,
shuffled, sore beset, squeezed, straitened, strapped, tied up,
troubled, turned around, uncomfortable, uneasy, unmoneyed,
unprosperous, unsettled, upset, vexed, without a clue, worried