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View synonyms for

save face



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Idioms and Phrases

Avoid humiliation or embarrassment, preserve dignity, as in Rather than fire him outright, they let him save face by accepting his resignation . The phrase, which uses face in the sense of “outward appearances,†is modeled on the antonym lose face . [Late 1800s]
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

He complained the Army "spit me out," though he tries to save face by claiming "the feeling was mutual."

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Better to demonstrate prudence, he reasoned, than to rashly reverse a well-considered decision in hope of temporarily saving face.

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Years later she would admit she was trying to save face, telling Australian media she was actually dropped from the team.

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Former judge Brian Langstaff, who chaired the inquiry, slammed successive governments and medical professionals for “a catalogue of failures†and refusal to admit responsibility to save face and expense.

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Israel expects Iran to strike in a way that allows it to save face, but is measured enough to not arouse an even fiercer counter-strike, analysts say.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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