embarrassing

Universal Words adjective 1 making you feel shy, awkward or ashamed: an embarrassing mistake / question / situation * It can be embarrassing for children to tell complete strangers about such incidents. * It was so embarrassing having to sing in public. 2 causing sb to look stupid, dishonest, etc: The report is likely to prove highly embarrassing to the government. * This EU ruling puts Britain in a very embarrassing position. embarrassingly adverb: The play was embarrassingly bad.