different between embarrassment vs snub

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sn?b/
• Rhymes: -?b

Etymology 1

From Middle English snubben (also snibben), from Old Norse snubba (“to curse, chide, snub, scold, reprove”). Cognate with Danish snibbe, dialectal Swedish snebba.

Adjective

snub (comparative more snub, superlative most snub)

1. Conspicuously short.

2. Of the nose: flat and broad, with the end slightly turned up.

   • If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round, rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.

3. (mathematics, of a polyhedron) Derived from a simpler polyhedron by the addition of extra triangular faces.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

snub (plural snubs)

1. A deliberate affront or slight.

   I hope the people we couldn't invite don't see it as a snub.
2. A sudden checking of a cable or rope.
3. (obsolete) A knot; a protuberance; a snag.

Derived terms

• snubbing post
• snub line

Translations

Verb

snub (third-person singular simple present snubs, present participle snubbing, simple past and past participle snubbed)

1. (transitive) To slight, ignore or behave coldly toward someone.
   • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

     For a long time he lived in the toy cupboard or on the nursery floor, and no one thought very much about him. He was naturally shy, and being only made of velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him.

2. (transitive) To turn down; to dismiss.

   He snubbed my offer of help.

3. (transitive) To check; to reprimand.
4. (transitive) To stub out (a cigarette etc).
5. (transitive) To halt the movement of a rope etc by turning it about a cleat or bollard etc; to secure a vessel in this manner.
6. (transitive) To clip or break off the end of; to check or stunt the growth of.

Synonyms

• (to slight or ignore): give someone the cold shoulder, turn the cold shoulder on someone, cut someone cold, cut someone dead

Translations

Etymology 2

Compare Dutch snuiven (“to snort, to pant”), German schnauben, German dialect schnupfen (“to sob”), and English snuff (transitive verb).

Verb

snub (third-person singular simple present snubs, present participle snubbing, simple past and past participle snubbed)

1. To sob with convulsions.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bailey to this entry?)

Anagrams

• Buns, buns, nubs