α. 1600s embarassement, 1600s embarassment, 1600s embarrasment, 1600s embarrassement, 1600s–1700s embarasment, 1600s– embarrassment, 1900s– embarrishment (U.S. regional (southern)).
β. 1600s imbarasment.
embarrassmentn.
/ɪmˈbarəsm(ə)nt/, /ɛmˈbarəsm(ə)nt/, U.S. /əmˈbɛrəsmənt/, /ɛmˈbɛrəsmənt/ 1.
a. Something (material or immaterial) which is a hindrance or encumbrance; an impediment, obstruction, or obstacle; a difficulty, a problem. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > types or manners of hindrance > [noun] > encumberment > that which or one who
encumberc1330
cumberc1425
cumbererc1450
encumbrance1535
encumbry1546
pesterance1548
burdener1552
pester1569
cloyance1593
encumberment1600
impedimenta1600
pesterer1611
baggage1612
luggage1614
cumbrance1645
embarrassment1676
downdraughta1681
hamperera1837
cumberment1840
cloyer1842
1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. Embarasment, a perplexing, intangling, hindering.
1680 H. Neville tr. N. Machiavelli Hist. Florence v. in tr. N. Machiavelli Wks. (new ed.) The trenches, and embarrasments [It. imbarazzamenti] were not finished.
1694 E. Calamy Funeral Serm. Samuel Stephens 20 We have no need therefore to be in love with Clogs, Impediments, and Embarrasments, as too too many seem to be.
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. iii. 50 Embarrassments,..hindering us from going the nearest Way to our own Good.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 159. ⁋6 Diffidence..compensates its embarrassments by more important advantages.
1810 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1838) V. 515 The baggage of the British army is always an embarrassment.
1845 Defiance (Ohio) Democrat 10 July This is the pioneer rail road in Indiana, and..hampered with unusual difficulties and embarrassments.
1873 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma vi. 152 The futility of such demonstrations..begins..to be felt by them [sc. readers] as an embarrassment to the cause of Jesus, not a support.
1915 Virginia Law Rev. 2 279 The embarrassments and entanglements of compulsory statutory procedure.
b. The fact or condition of being hindered; encumbrance; difficulty, trouble. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > types or manners of hindrance > [noun] > encumberment
cumbermentc1300
accumbrancec1330
encumbermentc1330
cumbrance1535
pesterance1548
pestering1552
cumbera1618
embarrassment1689
hampering1812
1689 Full & True Rel. Death K. James 2 He made many demurrs and delays; occasion'd..from the Embarrasment and Encumbrance of his own Affairs at home.
1757 Gentleman's Mag. May 238/1 The letters from Westphalia take notice of the great embarrassment of the French army there for want of provisions and forage.
1798 G. Vancouver Voy. Discov. N. Pacific Ocean II. iv. v. 359 To add to our embarrassment, the launch was yet too far distant to afford us any immediate succour.
1817 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. II. xxvii. 521 [The wasp] deliberately sawed off first one wing [of a fly] and then the other; and having thus removed the cause of its embarrassment, flew off with its booty.
1905 Spectator 7 Oct. 512/2 She [sc. Russia] replied to us by threatening India, and causing us the maximum of embarrassment on our North-West Frontier.
c. A state of financial difficulty; shortage of money. Frequently in plural. Now chiefly with modifying adjective, as financial, monetary.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] > lack of money
pence-lackc1400
a short purse1548
disability1624
low tide1699
embarrassment1727
impecuniosity1818
soldier's thigh1841
pennilessness1852
hard-uppishness1859
hard-upness1869
ooflessness1889
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Lurching, leaving a Person under some embarrassment.
1760 C. Johnstone Chrysal II. xii. 106 Your finances are in the lowest state of embarrassment.
1777 R. Watson Hist. Reign Philip II Index His expedient to free himself from his pecuniary embarrassments.
1800 W. Short Let. 18 Sept. in T. Jefferson Papers (2005) XXXII. 149 The embarassment of the Spanish finances will..oblige them to fiscalize on every article that commands money.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 65 In the hope of extricating himself from his embarrassments.
c1850 Arabian Nights (Rtldg.) 354 The embarrassment of Noureddin's affairs.
1880 L. Stephen Alexander Pope vi. 139 He managed to run through a splendid fortune and die in embarrassment.
1922 Writer Jan. 13/1 Be careful about reporting business failures or embarrassments.
1956 Clearing House 31 100/2 Such problems as personal illness, monetary embarrassment, and homesickness.
1970 Life 27 Mar. 58/2 The credit card is inflationary... It is expensive... It can still lead to hideous embarrassments if lost.
2003 R. Service Hist. Mod. Russia (2005) ii. 31 There were bankruptcies and other financial embarrassments among industrialists.
d. The state of having an (overwhelming or encumbering) excess or abundance of wealth, resources, options, etc.; such an excess or abundance. Esp. in embarrassment of riches and an embarrassment of choice. Cf. embarras de richesse n. and embarras de choix n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > excessive amount or degree > [noun] > superabundance
flood1340
overabundancea1382
abundancec1384
excessa1387
superfluitya1387
surcarka1400
superabundance?a1475
superfluencea1477
abundancy?1526
superfluousnessa1540
pleurisya1550
inundation1589
exsuperance1603
plethory1606
overplus1609
exuberancy1611
redoundancy1623
superabundancy1628
exsuperancy1638
exuberance1638
floodings1674
plethora1700
embarrassment1815
profligacy1834
overfullness1884
1815 in D. Defoe Robinson Crusoe (new ed.) 240 (note) A very familiar acquaintance with this portion of the coast..is productive of such a redundancy of local information, as to render a choice what is sometimes expressed by the phrase, ‘embarrassment of riches’.
1840 Naut. Standard & Steam Navigation Gaz. 12 June 355/1 The only difficulty is the embarrassment of choice, and the wish of selecting objects which may combine utility with embellishment.
1860 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 7 Apr. 220/2 (title) An embarrassment of suitors.
1902 Rev. of Reviews Nov. 467 The task of selecting cartoons for reproduction grows more difficult every year from the embarrassment of riches.
1932 Blockton (Iowa) News 21 Dec. 4/6 If you go into almost any grocery store..you will find that you have an embarrassment of choice.
1987 Times 20 Oct. 30/5 Perhaps all it needs is for the City's bubble to burst, and the Treasury would find itself with an embarrassment of talent.
2008 A. Houston Benjamin Franklin & Politics of Improvment iii. 122 If a growing population was the key to prosperity, then by the middle of the eighteenth century the Anglo-American world suffered from an embarrassment of riches.
2. † b. Confusion of thought or expression; obscurity. Obsolete.
a. The fact or condition of being perplexed or confused; hesitation in judgement or action; confusion; uncertainty. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > [noun] > state or instance of
studyc1300
were1338
amazec1425
perplexityc1475
studiala1513
pose1600
stam1638
embarrassment1721
screw-up1950
1721 S. Lowe (title) A new method of learning Latin with extraordinary ease and expedition; and without any perplexity or embarasment.
1753 Hist. Betty Barnes II. v. x. 114 She both wished and dreaded the return of her lover. While her mind was in this state of embarrassment, she received a Letter from Mrs. Granville.
1780 Compan. for Christian in Field & Garden 105 Which Distinctions..may possibly release the Mind from much Embarrassment, which the Confusion or Misapplication of the Term [sc. ‘grace’] has sometimes occasioned.
1874 J. Morley On Compromise 66 Any embarrassment in dealing with it [sc. false doctrine]..is a weakness that hinders social progress.
1907 Amer. Law Reg. 55 389 The reader's embarrassment is reduced to a minimum by the happy choice of broad and unmistakable English equivalents [to German technical terms].
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > [noun] > of thought, expression
embarras1710
embarrassment1751
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 169. ⁋13 He seldom suspects his thoughts of embarrassment.
1783 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric I. x. 186 We are pleased with an author..who carries us through his subject without any embarrassment or confusion.
1871 T. R. R. Stebbing Ess. Darwinism p. iii Observations and experiments..are brought to bear upon the subject without confusion of thought or embarrassment of style.
3.
a. Intense emotional or social discomfort caused by an awkward situation or by an awareness that one's own or another's words or actions are inappropriate or compromising, or that they reveal inadequacy or foolishness; awkwardness, self-consciousness. (Now the usual sense.) Frequently associated with particular bodily reactions, and expressed in terms of e.g. blushing (cf. quots. 1863, 1947), squirming (cf. quot. 1911), or wincing (cf. quot. 2008) with embarrassment.Typically distinguished from shame in being caused by something that is socially awkward or inappropriate rather than morally wrong or debasing.In early use sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > [noun]
mingingOE
riddleOE
cumbermentc1300
willa1325
encumbrancec1330
were1338
perplexitya1393
discomfiturea1425
cumbrancec1460
confuse1483
proplexity1487
perplexion?c1500
amazedness?1520
amazement1553
subversion1558
amaze?1560
perplexednessa1586
confusedness1587
puzzle1599
confusion1600
mizmaze1604
discomfita1616
embarras1627
obfuscation1628
mystery1629
confoundedness1641
puzzledness1662
confuseness1710
puzzlement1731
puzzledom1748
embarrassment1751
puzzleation1767
bepuzzlement1806
conjecture1815
mystification1817
bewilderment1819
perplexment1826
fuddle1827
wilderment1830
discomforture1832
head-scratching1832
baffle1843
posement1850
muddlement1857
turbidity1868
fogging1878
bemuddlement1884
harl1889
befuddlement1905
turbidness1906
wuzziness1942
perplexability1999
the mind > emotion > humility > feeling of shame > [noun] > embarrassment
embarras1627
constraint1706
embarrassment1751
gêne1787
1751 London Mag. Apr. 198/2 She pretended to be with child by him... She brought a man whom she called uncle, to add weight to her threats; and these violent proceedings threw Mr. Baker under great embarrassment. He always was extreamly tender of his reputation with the world.
1777 E. Burke Speech Electors Bristol in Polit. Tracts 347 If my real, unaffected embarrassment prevents me from expressing my gratitude to you as I ought.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth vi, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 148 Henry Smith remained with Catharine,..entirely alone. There was embarrassment on the maiden's part, and awkwardness on that of the lover.
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. v. 55 ‘Is he a negro-trader?’ said Mrs. Shelby, noticing a certain embarrassment in her husband's manner.
1863 ‘G. Eliot’ Romola I. viii. 152 Ready speech that prevents a blush from looking like embarrassment.
1911 W. S. Churchill Let. 22 Apr. in W. S. Churchill & C. S. Churchill Speaking for Themselves (1999) iii. 43 On Thursday the P.M. was vy bad: & I squirmed with embarrassment.
1947 C. MacKenzie Whisky Galore i. 4 The bank agent's complexion grew darker with embarrassment.
1949 Life 8 Aug. 92/1 (advt.) Tampax is only one-ninth the bulk of sanitary napkins. Think what they may save you in embarrassment when it's time for disposal!
1980 M. H. Heim tr. M. Kundera Bk. Laughter & Forgetting vii. xii. 219 When they realized the speaker was addressing his tirade right at them, they lowered their eyes in embarrassment.
2008 Daily Tel. 5 June 23/1 Those..who cringe to recall the tank-tops and loons or wince with embarrassment at old photographs of mullets and sideburns.
b. A person who or thing which causes someone to experience feelings of awkwardness, self-consciousness, or intense emotional or social discomfort.
ΚΠ
1873 Once a Week 17 Aug. 183/1 If my presence is an embarrassment to you, you will write, perhaps?
1893 tr. Human Comedy I. vi. 318/1 Augustine brought..into this intellectual society a spirit of distrust which escaped no one. She was an embarrassment. Embarrassed artists are merciless; they either fly or scoff.
1926 Davenport (Iowa) Democrat & Leader 11 Nov. 2/7 (advt.) They're gone! Those unsightly, annoying pimples that were such an embarrassment to you.
1966 Edwardsville (Illinois) Intelligencer 26 Jan. 5/3 I took her out last night and she is an embarrassment. She is loud, smokes continuously and shuffles lazily along instead of walking.
1980 A. Tyler Morgan's Passing 281 Uncle Owen was such an embarrassment, they sent him off to America.
2004 K. Schutt Florida 48 Mother was an embarrassment.., a woman in a sweater dress and white bubble wig.
c. With reference to an organization, government, person, etc.: the fact or condition of being made to appear incompetent, inadequate, or less worthy of respect. Also as a count noun: a cause of such humiliation. Frequently with to or for.
ΚΠ
1897 W. McKinley Message President U.S. to Congr. 7 No solution was proposed to which the slightest idea of humiliation to Spain could attach, and indeed precise proposals were withheld to avoid embarrassment to that Government.
1916 Amer. Year Bk. 1915 i. 74/2 An investigation of charges of incompetency..brought to light an incident touching executive patronage which proved to be a political embarrassment to Mr. Wilson's Administration.
1932 Times 11 Apr. 5/3 The speed and trickiness of J. Crawford and G. D. McKenzie on the wings was going to be a source of considerable embarrassment to the Corinthian defence before the afternoon was over.
1951 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 55 526/2 To avoid embarrassment to the pilot, the sudden increase of power on the wave-off signal should not be accompanied by violent changes of trim.
1984 Mother Jones Nov. 9/1 Polling organizations try to protect themselves from possible embarrassment by using a number of statistical safeguards and alibis.
1990 Guardian 5 Dec. 1/2 Mr. Kruger's visit must have been an embarrassment to the Government.
2012 Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Nexis) 14 July (Business section) 27 The trading losses are an embarrassment for the bank that came through the 2008 financial crisis in much better health than its peers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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