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embarrassment

/ɪmˈbæɹ.əs.mənt/noun

embarrassment is spelled E-M-B-A-R-R-A-S-S-M-E-N-T. The wrong spelling people search most is embarassment: about 310 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Embarrassment is a noun meaning “A state of discomfort arising from bashfulness or consciousness of having violated a social rule; humiliation”. The plural of embarrassment is embarrassments.

How many letters and syllables are in embarrassment?

Letters13: E-M-B-A-R-R-A-S-S-M-E-N-T
Syllables4 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.9 times per million words; the 10,028th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched2; the most searched, embarassment, about 310 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell embarrassment?

Embarrassment is spelled E-M-B-A-R-R-A-S-S-M-E-N-T. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 3 in 10 of the searches for embarrassment in either form.

embarrassmentthe right spelling1,330 searches a month
embarassmenta missing r310 searches a month
embarrasmenta missing s140 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is embarrassment?

Embarrassment appears 5.9 times per million words in written English, the 10,028th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce embarrassment?

  • /ɪmˈbæɹ.əs.mənt/
  • /ɪmˈbɛɹ.əs.mənt/

Embarrassment has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-embarrassment.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-embarrassment.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of embarrassment

  • embarrassments plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does embarrassment mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

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

  2. 2

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

    Jack, you are an embarrassment to this family.

  3. 3

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

  4. 4

    A state of confusion; hesitation; uncertainty.

  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)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Embarrassment in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchembarras (state of discomfort), honte (de) (person whose actions cause humiliation)
GermanVerlegenheit, Peinlichkeit, Betretenheit (state of discomfort)
Portuguesevergonha (state of discomfort)
Spanishvergüenza, corte, bochorno, pena, plancha, pudor (state of discomfort)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does embarrassment come from?

From embarrass + -ment.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after embarrassment