verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an awkward/uncomfortable/embarrassed silence
▪
‘Fred tells me you like books,’ Steve said, after an awkward silence.
an embarrassing incident
▪
He left after an embarrassing incident in the bar.
an embarrassing question
▪
The media began to ask embarrassing questions about MPs' expenses.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
almost
▪
I am almost embarrassed because our answers appear to be a party line.
▪
At times it was almost embarrassing for me.
▪
Had the masses become almost embarrassed by the heavily hyped prospect of a walkover and wanted to encourage the visitors?
deeply
▪
It also deeply embarrassed Mr Fox.
▪
The revelations will deeply embarrass the security services and lead to further accusations of incompetence as yet another operative tells his story.
slightly
▪
I am slightly embarrassed by this story but I fear it should be told.
▪
He caught a glimpse of a slightly embarrassed but charming smile.
▪
We exchange slightly embarrassed good evenings with them as we leave.
▪
He seemed slightly embarrassed by it all.
so
▪
I was so embarrassed by his behaviour.
▪
They were placed in shops, but people were so embarrassed about using them that curtains had to be hung around them.
▪
She was so embarrassed she said she was thinking of changing her last name.
▪
It was so embarrassing I ran out of the store and haven't dared show my head in there since.
▪
Some politicians are so embarrassed by their contributors, they try to keep them secret.
▪
Mum was so embarrassed but she can laugh about it now.
too
▪
More than is let on, because their victims are often too embarrassed to own up.
▪
They were too embarrassed for that.
▪
Hanna is too embarrassed , too proud, or perhaps simply too out of it, to query this.
▪
I would have been too embarrassed to say a word to her in his presence.
▪
I don't want to wear pads and I am too embarrassed to go to the doctor.
▪
I was too embarrassed to ask his name.
▪
He called Virginia Stillman, too embarrassed to think of doing anything else.
■ NOUN
government
▪
They'd do it deliberately to embarrass the Government .
▪
It was suggested at one meeting with the delegation that such an investigation could prove embarrassing for current government officials.
▪
His close involvement threatens to embarrass Mitterrand's government , although there is no suggestion he was involved in any wrong-doing.
▪
The Opposition was also anxious to embarrass the Government , and to trap it within its own latent inconsistencies.
▪
The crisis surrounding the tunnel threatens to embarrass the Government , which insisted it be financed entirely by the private sector.
▪
If the applications are pursued, it would embarrass the Government .
▪
The idea was to embarrass the Government .
situation
▪
The situation embarrasses us in committee.
▪
Maybe because his tight situation embarrassed him.
▪
The situation is more than embarrassing .
▪
I wonder if men tend to find such situations more embarrassing than women.
■ VERB
avoid
▪
By removing the mystique immediately, you avoid the excruciatingly embarrassing guesswork by all and sundry.
▪
Hoping to avoid delays and embarrassing publicity, in July the council started quietly pressuring Pike to disengage from the venture.
▪
Perhaps he had called them Nibs also, for convenience and to avoid embarrassing mistakes.
feel
▪
Also, if drink makes you behave too boldly, afterwards you may feel a bit embarrassed .
▪
Joe was furious and felt embarrassed that his White House intrigues should come to naught.
▪
They soon stopped feeling embarrassed about coming to admire the sculptures.
▪
Then I felt embarrassed , humiliated.
▪
How am I going to tell my friends about my faith so that I don't get ridiculed or feel embarrassed ?
▪
I felt really uncomfortable and embarrassed because I felt I was sending all the wrong messages.
▪
I felt embarrassed for my clients, as if they had misbehaved.
look
▪
Grant at least had the grace to look thoroughly embarrassed .
▪
The people standing around us looked embarrassed .
▪
She very seldom looked embarrassed , but there was just a hint of embarrassment about her now.
▪
She looked embarrassed by this information.
▪
He looked embarrassed when I said it, but genuinely gratified, and then be shuffled off without a single word more.
▪
Then, perhaps feeling that his gesture was mawkish, he looked embarrassed , took the flowers out and backed away.
▪
I looked down, embarrassed by the shamefulness of her situation and astonished by the surprises that fate kept setting before me.
▪
A moment later, all that I could see was that the chil-dren looked embarrassed .
prove
▪
Just be careful it does enter the right address-otherwise it could prove embarrassing .
▪
It was suggested at one meeting with the delegation that such an investigation could prove embarrassing for current government officials.
▪
Prominent anti-abortion activists in the party had opposed the resolution, because it might prove embarrassing .
▪
At times, the gap proved embarrassing .
▪
Even the pretrial depositions could prove embarrassing and politically damaging if, as is likely, they were released to the public.
seem
▪
Even some timber industry people seemed embarrassed , in some cases leaving trees uncut along streams.
▪
She seemed a little embarrassed , but pleased that I recognized her name.
▪
Once again, they don't seem a bit embarrassed .
▪
He seemed slightly embarrassed by it all.
▪
When she looked at me again, she had tears in her eyes and she seemed embarrassed by that.
want
▪
I wouldn't want to embarrass you, but I really can see no alternative at present.
▪
The election was only three months away and Fulbright did not want to embarrass Johnson.
▪
He didn't want to embarrass the poor woman.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
color me surprised/confused/embarrassed etc
financially embarrassed
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
I hope I didn't embarrass you in front of your friends.
▪
I hope my little dance didn't embarrass you.
▪
One woman was trying to embarrass me by asking me questions I couldn't answer.
▪
The release of these secret documents has embarrassed the administration.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
But the Government has been severely embarrassed by the burgeoning cost of the programme.
▪
I was embarrassed for a moment by my immodesty.
▪
It will only embarrass the Church.
▪
They'd do it deliberately to embarrass the Government.