different between insolence vs embarrassment

English

Etymology

From Middle French insolence, from Latin ?nsolentia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ns?l?ns/

Noun

insolence (countable and uncountable, plural insolences)

1. Arrogant conduct; insulting, bold behaviour or attitude.
   • c. 1908–52, W.D. Ross, transl., The Works of Aristotle, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Rhetoric, II.1389b11, by Aristotle, ?OCLC, page 636:

     They are fond of fun and therefore witty, wit being well-bred insolence.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume III, Chapter 14:

     all the insolence of imaginary superiority

2. Insolent conduct or treatment; insult.
3. (obsolete) The quality of being unusual or novel.
   • 1595, Edmund Spenser, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe:

     Her great excellence / Lifts me above the measure of my might / That being fild with furious insolence / I feele my selfe like one yrapt in spright.

Derived terms

• insolency

Translations

Verb

insolence (third-person singular simple present insolences, present participle insolencing, simple past and past participle insolenced)

1. (obsolete) To insult.

Anagrams

• incensole, selenonic

French

Etymology

From Latin ?nsolentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.s?.l??s/

Noun

insolence f (plural insolences)

1. insolence

Related terms

• insolent

Further reading

• “insolence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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.