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embarrassingly

embarrassingly

13 3.5
In a way that makes you feel embarrassed
  • adverb
  • /ɪmˈbærəsɪŋli/
translation icon : vergonzosamente
  • The equations that described black holes turned out to be embarrassingly simple, too simple.
  • embarrassingly simple

And I just started like embarrassingly, just like wail in front of her.

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Examples

  • Everything is going my way, and I am embarrassingly happy.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • In consequence, the land value in the district was embarrassingly depressed.

    Academic text (1992)
  • And it's a, it's actually an embarrassingly simple idea.

  • So we have beaten a good team and lost embarrassingly to another good team.

    Blog text (16)
  • Lately, though, my father's letters had been brief and embarrassingly simple, as if I were still eight years old.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • It's embarrassingly simple, the simplest version of it.

  • It appears my evening has drawn to an embarrassingly dramatic close.

  • I have this embarrassingly large stack of Bandai Star Wars models.

  • As a former curator myself, I know that an embarrassingly high percentage of objects in our museums are forgeries.

    Academic text (2009)
  • He embarrassingly failed to remember her name at the party.

Synonyms

awkwardly
vsembarrassingly
38 2.7

In a clumsy or uncomfortable way, often showing nervousness around other people

involves shameful feeling rather than mere physical or social clumsiness
shamefully
vsembarrassingly
10 3.4

In a way that makes people feel guilty or embarrassed

is milder and less focused on serious dishonor
disgracefully
vsembarrassingly
3 4.6

In a way that makes people feel ashamed

relates to shame but not always to public dishonor
ignominiously
vsembarrassingly
  • Formal
1 9.9

In a way that causes public shame or loss of respect

covers shame more broadly, not only public disgrace
humiliatingly
vsembarrassingly
  • Offensive
1 6.7

In a way that makes someone feel very ashamed and small

causes shame without necessarily removing dignity completely
indelicately
vsembarrassingly
1 6.5

In a way that is not careful about other people's feelings and can embarrass them

causes shame more directly rather than mere tactlessness
mortifyingly
vsembarrassingly
1 8.0

Causing strong embarrassment or shame

causes shame but with less extreme intensity
shamefacedly
vsembarrassingly
1 7.9

In a shy, embarrassed way

describes causing shame without focusing on visible reaction
ingloriously
vsembarrassingly
1 8.0

In a way that makes people feel ashamed

is about causing shame in everyday or private situations
writhingly
vsembarrassingly
  • Literature
9.6

In a way that shows strong embarrassment or discomfort

expresses shame more generally rather than extreme bodily reaction
cringingly
vsembarrassingly
8.1

In a way that makes people feel embarrassed or uncomfortable

focuses on shame without the strong awkward, cringe effect
infelicitously
vsembarrassingly
  • Formal
9.9

In an awkward or wrong way that causes trouble

is simpler, meaning it directly causes personal shame
indecorously
vsembarrassingly
  • Formal
8.7

In a way that shows bad manners

expresses causing shame rather than just breaking rules of decorum

Antonyms

6 3.5

In a way that makes someone feel less worried

How Embarrassing

mortifyingly
1 8.0
humiliatingly
  • Offensive
1 6.7
embarrassingly
13 3.5
awkwardly
38 2.7

Surface Forms

embarrassingly positive

Morphology

embarrassingly = embarrassing (transparent) = embarrass + ing + ly

The adverb is formed regularly from the adjective 'embarrassing' with '-ly', so the meaning is straightforwardly recoverable.

Etymology

Embarrassingly comes from embarrass, which originally joined em- 'in' and bar 'bar' or 'block' in French to mean being 'put behind a bar' or blocked. So the idea is of feeling stuck and exposed, which is why something done embarrassingly makes you feel ashamed and unable to act freely in front of others.