discomfit
Make someone squirm
To discomfit is to unsettle, embarrass, or frustrate someone—to throw them off their game: The reporter's pointed questions clearly discomfited the senator.
The word originally meant to defeat utterly in battle, and traces of that stronger sense persist in formal usage.
Often confused with discomfort, which emphasizes physical or emotional unease rather than the active unsettling that discomfit implies.
Cause social discomfort
- mortifyCause severe embarrassment
- humiliateCause painful shame
- abashCause acute discomfort
- chagrinDistress from wounded pride
fluster · discompose · shame · chasten · demean · humble · red-faced · blush
Defeat thoroughly in conflict
- routOverwhelming one-sided victory
- thwartPrevent success of
- frustratePrevent from succeeding
- foilDefeat a plan
overcome · best · worst · trounce · outmaneuver · outwit · checkmate · confound
embarrass
Cause social discomfort
chagrin · fluster · discompose · shame · chasten · demean · humble · red-faced · blush · squirm
vanquish
Defeat thoroughly in conflict
foil · overcome · best · worst · trounce · outmaneuver · outwit · checkmate · confound · stymie
unnerve
Disturb someone's composure
agitate · unsettle · dismay · alarm · trouble · distress · ruffle · shake · discompose · anxiety
baffle
Confuse or perplex
mystify · flummox · nonplus · befuddle · confound · stump · discombobulate · disorient · bemuse · dumbfound
- embarrassmentembarrassed, blush, humiliated, mortify, mortified
- stunstun, daze, shock, stupefy, stagger
discomfiture, discomfited, discomfiting, discomfits, discomfitting