embarrassment

noun

1. 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. 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.

   The audacious hijacking in Paris of a van carrying the baggage of a Saudi prince to his private jet is obviously an embarrassment to the French capital, whose ultra-high-end boutiques have suffered a spate of heists in recent months.

3. 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

   At one time, I reflected, we'd had an embarrassment of good, qualified squad leader—ready men in the platoon.

4. 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. 5

   Impairment of function due to disease: respiratory embarrassment.

6. 6

   datedDifficulty in financial matters; poverty.

7. 7

   A group of pandas (ie. red panda, giant panda)

   In Wolong, the captive panda population has increased from just eight bears to 330-the largest embarrassment of pandas in the world.

   A string of somebody’s little ponies, an embarrassment of pandas, enough dayglow neon to blow out an eardrum and a round of heavy, wet snow contributed Sunday to a rousing first round of closing days for Aspen mountains.

   [object Object]

Forms

plural

embarrassments