keep a straight face
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This is so obviously a market mania that I honestly don’t know how anyone on the Street of Shame can say otherwise and keep a straight face.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2025
From the get-go, the “Fall Man” and “Barbie” star struggled to keep a straight face, even during the cold open, which welcomed back “SNL” alum Kate McKinnon and her raunchy, alien-abduction-prone character, Ms. Rafferty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2024
Rep. Greg Casar of Austin, another freshman Democrat who sits beside Crockett in the Oversight Committee, said he often struggles to keep a straight face during Crockett’s speeches.
From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2024
The last one to keep a straight face wins.
From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
And secondly, if she did see what she thought she was going to see, she wouldn't trust herself to keep a straight face.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
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.
