discomfiture

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   embarrassment, frustration, or uneasy disappointment

   To her discomfiture, the microphone failed just as the interview began.

2. 2
   noun

   defeat or rout, especially in battle

   The surprise attack ended in the complete discomfiture of the invading force.

From Old French desconfiture ("defeat, rout"), from desconfire ("to defeat"). English first used the military sense; the now more common emotional sense compares embarrassment or frustration to the feeling of having been defeated.

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