SYNONYMS ennuyer verbe transitif
in the sense of gêner
gêner, agacer, déplaire à, déranger, embarrasser , empoisonner, énerver
Link to source LeRobert below.
So “ennuyer“ and “embarrasser“ are synonyms in the sense of “gêner“ = bother, but not in the sense of embarrass. I don’t find where ennuyer means embarrass. Wonder if anyone else has heard of ennuyer meaning embarrass? Thanks in advance.
I see they have an even longer list of synonyms on their website. I was surprised to see “empoisonner” listed.
Literally, it means to poison.
There is also the expression “empoisonner la vie” de quelqu’un, which basically means to make someone’s life miserable/hell - Maybe that’s why they listed it, but you can’t really use “ennuyer” and “empoisonner” interchangeably.
I think gêné would work better here.
I was embarrassed when he talked to me.
→ J’étais gêné quand il s’est adressé à moi. [embarrassed]
→ J’étais mal à l’aise quand il s’est adressé à moi. [uncomfortable]
S’ ennuyer = To be bored - More often than not, that’s how “ennuyer” is used, as can be seen in these examples:
ennuyer /“être ennuyé” can be used to mean that you feel bad/embarrassed/sorry, but usually because of something you did, or because of an unfortunate situation. (This use is rare):
Cela m’ennuie beaucoup, mais je risque d’avoir du retard. (Maybe you got lost or didn’t wake up. You’re embarrassed/feel bad)
Je suis très ennuyé d’avoir à vous dire cela, mais X a eu un accident" (you could use “désolé” instead of “très ennuyé” here - You’re basically sorry.)