Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Feeling ashamed, embarrassed, or humiliated: The state of losing face or dignity, often due to a public failure, mistake, or being proven wrong.
   • Feeling awkward or self-conscious: Experiencing discomfort due to a socially awkward or shameful situation.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Anh ấy cảm thấy rất bẽ mặt khi bị phát hiện nói dối. (He felt very ashamed when he was caught lying.)
  • Cô ấy đỏ mặt vì bẽ mặt trước đám đông. (She blushed from embarrassment in front of the crowd.)
  • Làm sai mà không dám nhận lỗi thật là bẽ mặt. (Making a mistake and not daring to admit it is truly humiliating.)

Advanced Usage

• "bẽ mặt lắm": very ashamed, extremely embarrassed.

  • Thua một đội yếu hơn khiến họ bẽ mặt lắm. (Losing to a weaker team made them extremely embarrassed.)

• "cảm giác bẽ mặt": the feeling of shame/embarrassment.

  • Cảm giác bẽ mặt ấy ám ảnh cô suốt nhiều ngày. (That feeling of shame haunted her for many days.)

Variants and Related Words

• Bẽ bàng (adj): A synonym with a very similar meaning, often implying a stronger sense of shame and dejection.

  • Sự thật phũ phàng khiến anh bẽ bàng. (The harsh truth left him deeply ashamed.)

• Xấu hổ (adj): Embarrassed, ashamed. This is a more common and general synonym.

  • Cô ấy xấu hổ vì hành động của mình. (She is ashamed of her actions.)

• Mất mặt (verb phrase): To lose face. This focuses more on the loss of social dignity rather than the internal feeling.

  • Anh ta sợ mất mặt trước đồng nghiệp. (He is afraid of losing face in front of his colleagues.)

Synonyms

• Hổ thẹn: Ashamed, feeling shame.
• Ngượng ngùng: Shy, bashful, embarrassed (often less severe than ).
• Tủi hổ: Humiliated, feeling a mix of shame and resentment.

Related Phrases

• Làm bẽ mặt ai đó: To embarrass someone, to make someone lose face.

  • Đừng làm bẽ mặt anh ấy trước mặt khách. (Don't embarrass him in front of the guests.)

• Bẽ mặt chín chiều: An idiom meaning to be utterly and profoundly ashamed from all sides/directions.

  • Sự việc đó khiến ông ấy bẽ mặt chín chiều. (That incident made him utterly and profoundly ashamed.)

Related Idioms

• Chui xuống đất: Literally "to crawl into the ground," meaning to be so embarrassed one wishes to disappear.
  • Lúc đó tôi bẽ mặt đến mức chỉ muốn chui xuống đất. (At that moment, I was so embarrassed I just wanted to crawl into the ground.)