slap in the face

Idioms and Phrases

A sharp rebuke or rebuff, as in Being criticized in front of my staff was a real slap in the face , or We thought it quite a slap in the face when they returned our letter unopened . The figurative use of this term, which can also refer to a literal blow, dates from the late 1800s.

Example Sentences

“I try not to allow politics to affect me, but it’s a slap in the face,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times

“This might seem like a slap in the face for many of you,” he wrote.

From BBC

“The migrants coming illegally are a slap in the face to those who came the right way,” said Strahan Branower, who runs a tattoo shop in Pinal County, where Trump won 58% of the vote in the last election.

From Los Angeles Times

A woman whose endometriosis went undiagnosed for more than two decades says a school's toughened stance on period pain is "just another slap in the face" for women and girls.

From BBC

“If Gavin signed those bills it would have been a slap in the face to Harris who has been trying to move the party away from the old way of thinking,” Madrid said.

From Los Angeles Times