embarrasser

English

Etymology

From embarrass +‎ -er.

Noun

embarrasser (plural embarrassers)

1. One who embarrasses (someone or something).
   • 1884 June 12, “Massimo d’Azeglio’s Letters to His Nephew”, in The Nation: A Weekly Journal Devoted to Politics, Literature, Science, & Art, volume XXXVIII, number 989, New York, N.Y.: The Evening Post Publishing Company, page 509, column 2:

     Then, all these embarrassers of my ministry and I are hardly made to pull together, so that I thanked him for the high honor, placing myself at the disposal of the Cabinet for anything else.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish embarazar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

embarrasser

1. (transitive) embarrass
2. (transitive) clutter; block (up)

Conjugation

Conjugation of embarrasser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	embarrasser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	embarrassant /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		embarrassé /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	embarrasse /ɑ̃.ba.ʁas/	embarrasses /ɑ̃.ba.ʁas/	embarrasse /ɑ̃.ba.ʁas/	embarrassons /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sɔ̃/	embarrassez /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.se/	embarrassent /ɑ̃.ba.ʁas/
	imperfect	embarrassais /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sɛ/	embarrassais /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sɛ/	embarrassait /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sɛ/	embarrassions /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	embarrassiez /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sje/	embarrassaient /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sɛ/
	past historic2	embarrassai /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.se/	embarrassas /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sa/	embarrassa /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sa/	embarrassâmes /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sam/	embarrassâtes /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sat/	embarrassèrent /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sɛʁ/
	future	embarrasserai /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sʁe/	embarrasseras /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sʁa/	embarrassera /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sʁa/	embarrasserons /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sʁɔ̃/	embarrasserez /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sʁe/	embarrasseront /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	embarrasserais /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sʁɛ/	embarrasserais /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sʁɛ/	embarrasserait /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sʁɛ/	embarrasserions /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	embarrasseriez /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sə.ʁje/	embarrasseraient /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	embarrasse /ɑ̃.ba.ʁas/	embarrasses /ɑ̃.ba.ʁas/	embarrasse /ɑ̃.ba.ʁas/	embarrassions /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	embarrassiez /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sje/	embarrassent /ɑ̃.ba.ʁas/
	imperfect2	embarrassasse /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sas/	embarrassasses /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sas/	embarrassât /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sa/	embarrassassions /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sa.sjɔ̃/	embarrassassiez /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sa.sje/	embarrassassent /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	embarrasse /ɑ̃.ba.ʁas/	—	embarrassons /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.sɔ̃/	embarrassez /ɑ̃.ba.ʁa.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

• débarrasser

Further reading

• “embarrasser”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.