EMBARRASSMENT
Dictionary entry overview: What does embarrassment mean?
• EMBARRASSMENT (noun)
The noun EMBARRASSMENT has 4 senses:
1. the shame you feel when your inadequacy or guilt is made public
2. the state of being embarrassed (usually by some financial inadequacy)
3. some event that causes someone to be embarrassed
4. extreme excess
Familiarity information: EMBARRASSMENT used as a noun is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
• EMBARRASSMENT (noun)
Meaning:
The shame you feel when your inadequacy or guilt is made public
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("embarrassment" is a kind of...):
shame (a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "embarrassment"):
self-consciousness; uncomfortableness; uneasiness (embarrassment deriving from the feeling that others are critically aware of you)
shamefacedness; sheepishness (feeling embarrassed about yourself)
chagrin; humiliation; mortification (strong feelings of embarrassment)
confusion; discombobulation (a feeling of embarrassment that leaves you confused)
abashment; bashfulness (feeling embarrassed due to modesty)
discomfiture; discomposure; disconcertion; disconcertment (anxious embarrassment)
Meaning:
The state of being embarrassed (usually by some financial inadequacy)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Context example:
he is currently suffering financial embarrassments
Hypernyms ("embarrassment" is a kind of...):
emotional state; spirit (the state of a person's emotions (especially with regard to pleasure or dejection))
Meaning:
Some event that causes someone to be embarrassed
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Context example:
the outcome of the vote was an embarrassment for the liberals
Hypernyms ("embarrassment" is a kind of...):
trouble (an event causing distress or pain)
Antonym:
disembarrassment (something that extricates you from embarrassment)
Meaning:
Extreme excess
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
overplus; plethora; superfluity; embarrassment
Context example:
an embarrassment of riches
Hypernyms ("embarrassment" is a kind of...):
excess; excessiveness; inordinateness (immoderation as a consequence of going beyond sufficient or permitted limits)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "embarrassment"):
redundance; redundancy (the attribute of being superfluous and unneeded)
