vicarious embarrassment en · NOUN
Meanings
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(countable, uncountable) The uncomfortable sympathetic feeling experienced while watching someone else embarrass themselves.
The same brain regions, the study found, are implicated in vicarious embarrassment – watching President Obama give an awkward hug of his own to departing press secretary Jay Carney, say – as they are when empathizing with the physical pain of others.
2014 July 17, Oliver Burkeman, “No, I won't watch that cringe-inducing viral video. I'm a better person than you”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:It is noted that vicarious embarrassment does not necessarily indicate the presence of an embarrassed other.
1996, Rom Harré, W. Gerrod Parrott, editors, The Emotions: Social, Cultural and Biological Dimensions, SAGE, →ISBN, page 124:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| vicarious embarrassments | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Hypernyms
Relateds
Synonyms
Spanish shame · empathic embarrassment · secondhand embarrassment
Translations (20)
el ετεροντροπή (embarrassment felt for someone else) · cmn 替人尷尬 /替人尴尬 (embarrassment felt for someone else) · ca vergonya aliena (embarrassment felt for someone else) · fi myötähäpeä (embarrassment felt for someone else) · pl zażenowanie (czyimś zachowaniem) (embarrassment felt for someone else) · es vergüenza ajena (embarrassment felt for someone else) · vi ngại giùm (embarrassment felt for someone else) · de Fremdscham (embarrassment felt for someone else) · ja 共感性羞恥 (embarrassment felt for someone else) · cmn 替代性尷尬 /替代性尴尬 (embarrassment felt for someone else) · sv sekundärskam (embarrassment felt for someone else) · ru испа́нский стыд (embarrassment felt for someone else) · pt vergonha alheia (embarrassment felt for someone else) · cs pocit trapnosti (embarrassment felt for someone else) · nl plaatsvervangende schaamte (embarrassment felt for someone else) · cs pocit trapnosti za druhého (embarrassment felt for someone else) · es alipori (embarrassment felt for someone else) · is kjánahrollur (embarrassment felt for someone else) · de Fremdschämen (embarrassment felt for someone else) · es pena ajena (embarrassment felt for someone else)