face-saving
Britishadjective
Explanation
Anything face-saving protects you from humiliation. Slip and fall in the school cafeteria, and you might use the face-saving tactic of pretending you did it on purpose. You know, for a joke. The concept of something being face-saving varies between cultures; what's undignified or dishonorable in one might be no big deal in another. It's all about the idea of face, or dignity in front of a social group, and the potential loss of it. In a negotiation between two countries, the winning side sometimes grants some face-saving concessions to the loser, to make their loss less humiliating or embarrassing.
Vocabulary lists containing face-saving
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Eventually, it’s likely that the Justice Department finds a face-saving way to drop the inquiry and allow Warsh’s nomination to move forward, said Stifel chief Washington policy strategist Brian Gardner.
From Barron's • Feb. 5, 2026
They’d do better to drop it entirely, but at least the delay gives everyone a face-saving off-ramp.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025
For instance, in the film, Prince Andrew is told Covid is to be used as a face-saving excuse for him not to be at the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
From BBC • Sep. 18, 2024
So instead they spin a face-saving story about how they're sure he's got an ace up his sleeve and the stock will bounce back.
From Salon • Apr. 19, 2024
T. Ray needed a face-saving way to hand me over, and August was giving it to him.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
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.
