lose face

Idioms and Phrases

Be embarrassed or humiliated, especially publicly. For example, Terry lost face when his assistant was promoted and became his boss . Both this expression and the underlying concept come from Asia; the term itself is a translation of the Chinese tiu lien and has been used in English since the late 1800s. Also see save face .

Example Sentences

But being the swaggering attorney that Trump seems to want – Blanche has also insisted that the loser of the 2020 election continue to be referred to as “President Trump” — has also made him lose face, his client watching as Judge Merchan told Blanche he was “losing all credibility” with the court.

From Salon

Retired Det Sgt Willie Mason claims senior officers did not want to lose face.

From BBC

"They won't want to lose face" says Fitton-Brown.

From BBC

Another view is that this is an attempt at a last-minute diplomatic resolution in which neither the tech firms nor the government lose face: the government says it knew all along that the tech did not exist and removes immediate pressure from the tech firms to invent it, and the tech firms claim a victory for privacy.

From BBC

"What advantage is there to making someone lose face, unless that is your objective."

From Reuters