Humiliating means making somebody lose their dignity in front of others. A humiliating defeat, deeply humiliating, a humiliating apology.
The audience is the essential part: the same treatment in private would be merely unpleasant. It is the word for a defeat that was not only a loss but a public one, which is why sport uses it more than any other field.
1adjectivehumiliatingMaking somebody lose their dignity in front of others.
“It was humiliating to fall off the stage in front of the whole school.”
humiliating is a quality.