lose face
Meaning: To lose respect or be humiliated in public.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “He'd rather keep arguing than admit the mistake and lose face.”
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: A translation of Chinese expressions about "face" as social standing, adopted in English in the late 19th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- Polish: stracić twarz — literally: to lose face
More idioms — Body & Senses
- shoulder the burden — To take on a heavy responsibility.
- give one's eyeteeth for something — To want something very badly.
- blush to the roots of one's hair — To go very red with embarrassment.
- not see beyond the end of one's nose — To have a narrow outlook and ignore anything beyond one's immediate concerns.
- many hands make light work — A job is easier when many people share it.
- right under one's nose — Very close, yet unnoticed.
More English idioms
- play for time — To delay deliberately in the hope of improving one's position.
- even Homer nods — Even the most skilled people sometimes make mistakes.
- gild the lily — To spoil something already perfect by adding to it.
- borrow trouble — To worry about problems that may never happen.
- act like one owns the place — To behave with arrogant disregard for others.
- once in a lifetime — So rare that it will probably happen only once.
From our tongue twisters
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- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.
- Unique New York. — Three words that jam the 'y/n/k' sequence together — repeat it and it collapses into 'you…