disembarrass
/ˌdɪs.ɛmˈbæɹ.əs/
disembarrass means to get (someone) out of a difficult or embarrassing situation; to free (someone) from the embarrassment (of a situation); (often reflexive) to relieve (someone of a burden, item of clothing, etc.). Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 84 out of 100.
disembarrass is pronounced /ˌdɪs.ɛmˈbæɹ.əs/.
Why “disembarrass” is a great word
To free someone or something from an encumbrance, entanglement, or embarrassing situation. From the English prefix dis- (expressing removal) + embarrass (to cause to feel awkward or impede). Possibly a calque of French désembarrasser. First attested in 1726. Unlike “extricate,” which implies a strenuous unpicking from a trap, or “disencumber,” which suggests lifting a heavy, clogging weight, to disembarrass is the quieter relief from complication or social unease. It is the discreet removal of a stray leaf from a companion’s teeth, the decisive deletion of a superfluous clause from a tangled paragraph, or the simple act of taking a heavy package from a stranger’s overloaded arms—a small, gracious subtraction of friction from the machinery of daily life.
Etymology
From dis- + embarrass. Possibly a calque of French désembarrasser. First attested in 1726 (sense 1).
verb
- To get (someone) out of a difficult or embarrassing situation; to free (someone) from the embarrassment (of a situation); (often reflexive) to relieve (someone of a burden, item of clothing, etc.).“1726, George Berkeley, letter to Thomas Prior dated 6 February, 1726, in The Works of George Berkeley, London: G. Robinson, Volume 1, p. xliv,
[…] I hope […] that you will have disembarrassed yourself of all sort of business that may detain you here, and so be ready to go with us […]”
- To free (something) from complication.“1719, uncredited editor, A Collection of Tracts Concerning Predestination and Providence, Cambridge University Press, Preface,
[…] that we might disembarrass the Style as much as possible, we have taken the liberty to transpose Parentheses and other perplexed Passages, so as to clear and reduce them to continued Sentences.”
- To disentangle (two things); to distinguish.“1751, William Warburton, commentary on An Essay on Man in The Works of Alexander Pope, London: J. & P. Knapton et al., Volume 3, p. 63,
[…] though it be difficult to distinguish genuine Virtue from spurious, they having both the same appearance, and both the same public effects, yet they may be disembarrassed. If it be asked, by what means? He replies […] By Conscience […]”
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