Word for feeling extremely embarrassed for someone else

Question

I am looking for a word that evokes embarrassment in oneself through others, for example, watching a really bad performance on stage, it might not necessarily involves the humiliation of one party in public, the party can also be oblivious to what he is doing, but evokes a sense of embarrassment upon observation by someone else.

That's just another sense of embarrassed. One can be embarrassed for oneself or for another; the word refers to a feeling of uncomfortable social interaction, which can be experienced empathetically. — John Lawler, Sep 27 '15 at 15:17
Not an English answer, but German has invented the very nice term "Fremdschämen", which matches your description exactly. Some dictionaries translate it as second-hand embarrassment or vicarious embarrassment. — Stephie, Sep 27 '15 at 15:18
But what if the person isn't being humiliated? It could be a person trying to hard to be sociable, or for example, a boy being too persistent in chasing a girl but does not seem to realise the situation he is in, and observing his actions evoke embarrassment in someone? @Mari-LouA — , Sep 27 '15 at 15:36
Well, edit your question explain why none of the terms suggested answer your question, and you stand a very good chance of keeping the post open. I think watching someone performing badly on stage is very similar to the situation described in the link I posted. — Mari-Lou A, Sep 27 '15 at 15:56

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

1

discomfit -

Make someone feel embarrassed

In this sense I like discomfited, though it of course it does not specifically mean for others.

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

1

answered Sep 28 '15 at 05:25

stevesliva

6,607

You should paste the dictionary records in your answer, and then quote at the bottom of it crediting the source of the dictionary records. – Blessed Geek Sep 28 '15 at 08:40
@BlessedGeek This was an iPad post. I worked had for that amount of markdown. Not sure what's not implicit in a link and a blockquote regardless. – stevesliva Sep 28 '15 at 20:31
Bostonian accent, somewhat - I worked had. Where did I pak my care. – Blessed Geek Sep 29 '15 at 00:34
@BlessedGeek havad yad. – stevesliva Sep 29 '15 at 00:35

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 28 '15 at 08:49

I have two words: empathetically embarrassed.

Sympathetically embarrassed doesn't quite express the situation precisely.

When I googled "empathetically embarrassed", it came up with Vicarious Embarrassment:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/vicarious-embarrassment-awkward-moments-trigger-pain-centers-brain/story?id=13366555

and "The Opposite Of Schadenfreude: Vicarious Embarrassment":

http://www.npr.org/2014/07/19/332760081/the-opposite-of-schadenfreude-vicarious-embarrassment

Word for feeling extremely embarrassed for someone else

2 Answers2