Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Embarrass

Em·bar′rass (ĕm·băr′ras), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Embarrassed (- rast); p. pr. & vb. n. Embarrassing.] [F. embarrasser (cf. Sp. embarazar, Pg. embaraçar, 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 perplex; to discompose; to disconcert; as, laughter may embarrass an orator.

2. To hinder from liberty of movement; to impede; to obstruct; as, business is embarrassed; public affairs are embarrassed.

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.

Em·bar′rass, n. [F. embarras. See Embarrass, v. t.] Embarrassment. [Obs.] Bp. Warburton.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.