embarrassing

embarrassing
    adj 1: hard to deal with; especially causing pain or
           embarrassment; "awkward (or embarrassing or difficult)
           moments in the discussion"; "an awkward pause followed
           his remark"; "a sticky question"; "in the unenviable
           position of resorting to an act he had planned to save
           for the climax of the campaign" [syn: {awkward},
           {embarrassing}, {sticky}, {unenviable}]
    2: causing to feel shame or chagrin or vexation; "the
       embarrassing moment when she found her petticoat down around
       her ankles"; "it was mortifying to know he had heard every
       word" [syn: {embarrassing}, {mortifying}]
    

embarrassing \embarrassing\ adj.
   1. hard to deal with; as, greeted with an embarrassing
      silence.

   Syn: awkward, disconcerting, off-putting, sticky, tight,
        unenviable.
        [WordNet 1.5]

   2. causing to feel shame or chagrin or vexation.

   Syn: mortifying, shame-making.
        [WordNet 1.5]
    

Embarrass \Em*bar"rass\ ([e^]m*b[a^]r"ras), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
   {Embarrassed} ([e^]m*b[a^]r"rast); p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Embarrassing}.] [F. embarrasser (cf. Sp. embarazar, Pg.
   embara[,c]ar, Pr. barras bar); pref. em- (L. in) + LL. barra
   bar. See {Bar}.]
   1. To hinder from freedom of thought, speech, or action by
      something which impedes or confuses mental action; to make
      (a person) unpleasantly self-conscious; to perplex; to
      discompose; to disconcert; as, laughter may embarrass an
      orator. [WordNet sense 1]

   Syn: abash, discompose, disconcert, discomfit, chagrin. [1913
        Webster +PJC]

   2. To hinder from liberty of movement; to impede; to
      obstruct; as, business is embarrassed; public affairs are
      embarrassed. [WordNet sense 2]

   Syn: obstruct, blockade, block, hinder, stymie. [1913
        Webster]

   3. (Com.) To involve in difficulties concerning money
      matters; to incumber with debt; to beset with urgent
      claims or demands; -- said of a person or his affairs; as,
      a man or his business is embarrassed when he can not meet
      his pecuniary engagements.

   Syn: To hinder; perplex; entangle; confuse; puzzle;
        disconcert; abash; distress. -- To {Embarrass},
        {Puzzle}, {Perplex}. We are puzzled when our faculties
        are confused by something we do not understand. We are
        perplexed when our feelings, as well as judgment, are so
        affected that we know not how to decide or act. We are
        embarrassed when there is some bar or hindrance upon us
        which impedes our powers of thought, speech, or motion.
        A schoolboy is puzzled by a difficult sum; a reasoner is
        perplexed by the subtleties of his opponent; a youth is
        sometimes so embarrassed before strangers as to lose his
        presence of mind.
        [1913 Webster]
    

32 Moby Thesaurus words for "embarrassing":
      awkward, baffling, bewildering, bothering, chastening, confounding,
      confusing, crushing, discomposing, disconcerting, dismaying,
      distracting, distressing, disturbing, enigmatic, humbling,
      humiliating, humiliative, intricate, mortifying, mysterious,
      mystifying, perplexing, perturbing, problematic, puzzling,
      shameful, shaming, touchy, uncomfortable, upsetting, worrying