humiliate vs embarrass

Humiliate is much stronger than embarrass.

If I fell over my shoelaces and landed on my rump in front of you, I might be a bit embarrassed.

If I fell and my skirt flew up revealing I had on no underwear, and did this while performing live at the Superbowl, an event broadcast to millions, and the pictures were on the front page of newspapers around the world, I would be humiliated

Grammar GeekIf I fell and my skirt flew up revealing I had on no underwear, and did this while performing live at the Superbowl, an event broadcast to millions, and the pictures were on the front page of newspapers around the world, I would be humiliated.

It may also mean you're Janet Jackson

By the grace of *** the Almighty, we fortunately have no actual knowledge of the state of cladness or un-cladness of Ms. Jackson's nether regions - only the top bits.

Humiliation is more personal and deliberate than embarrassment.
Humiliation seems to me to be purposely making someone look small, weak, or incompetent.
Embarrassment can happen by accident. It may not directly involve the person being embarrassed at all.
It's hard to imagine kids humiliating a parent in public compared to embarrassing a parent in public.
To humiliate a parent t

CalifJim,

So the situation described by GrammarGeek, which is purely accidental, would qualify under embarrassment, and it would qualify under humiliation only if somebody deliberately blew the wind up her skirt?

Just wanted to clarify.

Also, could it be that humiliation is a sub-category of embarrassment? Meaning that every time one is humiliated he or she is embarrasse

I completely agree with Jim that if someone else humiliates you, it's more targeted and deliberate.

But you can humiliate yourself if you do enough dumb things (like go out without your underwear in front a billion people).

Akavallcould it be that humiliation is a sub-category of embarrassment?

Yes. That might be a good way of looking at it. Extreme forms of embarrassment also get the name "humiliation", even when accidental. But the active form of the verb can't be used in those cases because no one did the humiliating. Something just happened, and it was so embarrassin

0Than00k you everyone!0-

The harder I try the harder it gets to hide the palpable excitement caused by the revelation of your humiliation. - Hardick

To be embarrassed is to have your weaknesses or flaws exposed, either by others or by oneself.

To be humiliated is to have your weaknesses or flaws exploited, either by others or by the circumstances.

For example, a student may be embarrassed by the teacher when the teacher calls on them for an answer and the student is exposed for not knowing it. However, the student ma