different between embarrassment vs anxiety

English

Etymology

From embarrass +? -ment

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?bæ??sm?nt/

Noun

embarrassment (countable and uncountable, plural embarrassments)

1. A state of discomfort arising from bashfulness or consciousness of having violated a social rule; humiliation.
2. A person or thing which is the cause of humiliation to another.

   Kevin, you are an embarrassment to this family.

   Losing this highly publicized case was an embarrassment to the firm.
3. A large collection of good or valuable things, especially one that exceeds requirements.
   • 1914, Collier's, page 30

     There are over 5,000 Americans now in Paris, many artists, singers, musicians, writers, and actors, so many, indeed, the committee could hardly pick a program from an embarrassment of volunteers.

   • 1996, David Morgan Evans, Peter Salway, David Thackray, The Remains of Distant Times: Archaeology and the National Trust, Boydell & Brewer ?ISBN, page 188

     The landscape presented an embarrassment of riches for the industrial archaeologist, and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century remains were still visible in abundance

   • 2013, Frank Boccia, The Crouching Beast: A United States Army Lieutenant's Account of the Battle for Hamburger Hill, May 1969, McFarland ?ISBN, page 256

     At one time, I reflected, we'd had an embarrassment of good, qualified squad leader—ready men in the platoon.

4. A state of confusion; hesitation; uncertainty
5. (medicine) Impairment of function due to disease: respiratory embarrassment.
6. (dated) Difficulty in financial matters; poverty.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• embarrassment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• embarrassment in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

From Latin anxiet?s, from anxius (“anxious, solicitous, distressed, troubled”), from ang? (“to distress, trouble”), akin to Ancient Greek ???? (ánkh?, “to choke”). See anger; angst.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æ?(?)?za?.?.ti/
• Rhymes: -a??ti

Noun

anxiety (countable and uncountable, plural anxieties)

1. An unpleasant state of mental uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and obsession or concern about some uncertain event.
   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 268a.

     But the other, because he's been immersed in arguments, gives the appearance of harbouring considerable anxiety and suspicion that he's ignorant of those matters he presents himself to others as an expert on.

2. An uneasy or distressing desire (for something).
3. (pathology) A state of restlessness and agitation, often accompanied by a distressing sense of oppression or tightness in the stomach.

Synonyms

• care, solicitude, foreboding, uneasiness, perplexity, disquietude, disquiet, trouble, apprehension, restlessness, distress

Related terms

Derived terms

• hangxiety

Translations

Further reading

• anxiety in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• anxiety in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.