Home › Glossary › Letter S

Save face

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To preserve one's dignity, reputation, or honor in difficult situations; emphasizes maintaining outward respect and avoiding shame, even if internal reality differs from public perception.

Detailed Definition
Save face means to preserve dignity, reputation, or public honour after embarrassment, failure, or conflict. In poetry, the idiom is useful for social codes, family pride, political negotiation, shame, and cultural expectations. The face represents outward identity, so saving face may involve concealment, tact, apology, or compromise. A poet can use it sympathetically, where dignity protects the vulnerable, or critically, where pride prevents truth. It is valuable for exploring the tension between public appearance and private feeling.
Example
Example in poetry:
A court poem might show the defeated duke saving face with a gracious bow; In a family poem, a mother lets the child save face by accepting a whispered apology; The phrase means to preserve dignity after embarrassment; A poet can use it for pride, mercy, and social tact.
Additional Notes
Save face means preserve dignity, reputation, or public honour after embarrassment or failure. In poetry, it is useful for social rituals, family pride, politics, diplomacy, shame, and silence. The face represents the visible self offered to the world. Students should compare it with lose face. The idiom asks whether dignity is inward truth or outward appearance, and whether social harmony sometimes requires concealment.
Also Known As
preserve dignity
Skip to main content