Sometimes a person can forget the meaning of the simplest and most understandable words. For example, the meaning of the word “embarrass”, it would seem, should not cause difficulties. But it does not always happen as it should.
The meaning of the word
In total, the verb “embarrass” has three main meanings:
- "To cause excitement among the people."
- When a person is greatly worried, worried, they say in such cases about embarrassment. This may relate to events, phenomena.
- When one person in another causes excitement, anxiety, disturbs peace.
As always, the definitions without examples are not very clear, therefore, we illustrate each value with the corresponding situation.
The Master and Margarita: Interrogation of Yeshua Ga-Nozri
Perhaps there is now too much Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov’s epoch-making novel, and this is very irritating for many, but there is nothing to be done, for our purposes it suits perfectly.
And the example that we need is already in the second chapter of the novel, where Pontius Pilate interrogates Yeshua Ga-Nozri. At first, the relationship between Yeshua and Pilate was not very good, because the wandering preacher did not know how to contact the prosecutor. Then he was taught a lesson, and the dialogue moved on. And when the preacher became bolder, he began to prove his innocence, but Pilate at some point, tormented by headaches, lost his patience, called Yeshua a vagabond and asked why he “embarrassed the people” and “told about the truth, which he has no idea "(Quotes slightly modified).
In this conversation between the procurator and the wandering philosopher, we find the meaning of the word "embarrass" in its first sense. We move on.
Teacher and beloved student
Ideally, teachers should not have favorites; this is unethical. But in practice, as we know, this rule is violated all the time. And just imagine, the teacher checks the school works of his class and sees that her beloved student - Solovyov Seryozha - began to write very poorly. And she decided to talk sometime after class. Of course, the teacher hoped to do without calling her parents to school. Just the sudden, spontaneous illiteracy of Soloviev Seryozha embarrassed her.
How many such cases does history know when an excellent student suddenly slid into deuces or even triples, but only some teachers lacked the tact and intuition to understand that something strange was happening to the child. But let’s leave it. The main thing is that here the meaning of the word “embarrass” is used in the second sense.
Love theme
Love not only gives mankind many joyful minutes, but also helps us to illustrate the content of the word “embarrass”. We remind the reader that only one meaning remained unlit. When one person causes anxiety and excitement in another, even schoolchildren know what this is talking about. Of course, it is all about love or strong sympathy, but, however, not only in it.
The girl sees a boy she likes, and she is embarrassed. This is a sure sign that the young lady visited Cupid. But love, love, and generally spontaneous and uncontrolled acts of embarrassment, complicate life. Remember, many jokes in American youth comedies are based on the fact that a guy or a girl is in love and behaves strangely with an object of passion. They are embarrassed, and the viewer is very funny. If the question arises, what does the word "embarrassed" mean, then you can watch one of these films and everything will immediately become clear.
Luxury apartments Woland, Gella's nudity and Soviet barman
Let us return to Bulgakov’s novel. Here the Russian classic uses the verb “embarrass” not only in the obsolete, but also in the modern sense. Remember, for example, the scene when a barman came to visit Woland. After all, the Moscow guest knew what kind of person he should come to, therefore he provided him with a warm welcome right from the doorway, when the naked Gella opened the door to a representative of Soviet catering. Then the luxury of Woland’s room, conversations about women, cards, wine — all this was found by Soviet people to be extremely indecent. And it is not known what confused the barman more: the naked body of Gella or the luxury of the room. This, perhaps, the reader should think hard.
And if you are still tormented by the question of what “embarrassment” means, then simply re-read chapter 18 of the immortal novel mentioned above.
Replacing the word embarrassed
Another issue remained unaffected, so you have to distract from the Russian classics and again plunge into linguistic everyday life. People are interested in knowing a synonym for the word "embarrassed", you can not deceive the expectations of the audience, even for the sake of good books. Let's give our list:
- excited;
- alarmed
- embarrassed;
- Lost. For example, when they say: "He has a lost look," because embarrassment is also possible;
- restless;
- ashamed.
Understanding the meaning of the word “embarrass”, the reader himself will easily continue this line. After all, a genuine understanding of anything comes only as a result of independent work, and the course has already been set.