embarrassment

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Akkadian 𒆟 (rakāsum) Akkadian 𒄙 (markasu)bor. Classical Syriac ܡܰܪܫܳܐ (maršā)bor. Arabic مَرَسَة (marasa)der. Old Galician-Portuguese baraço Old Galician-Portuguese embaraçarbor. Old Spanish embaraçar Spanish embarazarbor. French embarrasserbor. English embarrass Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-mentom Latin -mentum Old French -mentbor. Middle English -ment English -ment English embarrassment From embarrass + -ment.

1. A state of discomfort arising from bashfulness or consciousness of having violated a social rule; humiliation.

   “The desired effect [of affectionate teasing] is a look of pleasurable embarrassment, as if you administered a compliment. Anyone who doesn't stop teasing immediately upon producing real embarrassment, anger or tears is not really teasing.”

2. A person or thing which is the cause of humiliation to another.

   “Jack, you are an embarrassment to this family.”

   “Losing this highly publicized case was an embarrassment to the firm.”

3. A large collection of good or valuable things, especially one that exceeds requirements or causes some sort of hindrance.

   “There are over 5,000 Americans now in Paris, many artists, singers, musicians, writers, and actors, so many, indeed, the committee could hardly pick a program from an embarrassment of volunteers.”

   “The landscape presented an embarrassment of riches for the industrial archaeologist, and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century remains were still visible in abundance”

4. A state of confusion; hesitation; uncertainty.

   “[…]and render them more intelligible than all the commentaries which have been written on them, for they generally render the authour more obscure, and lead the reader into greater embarrassments, by what they explain, than by what they leave untouched.”

5. Impairment of function due to disease: respiratory embarrassment.
6. Difficulty in financial matters; poverty.
7. A group of pandas (ie. red panda, giant panda)