keep up appearances

English

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

keep up appearances

(idiomatic) To pretend to be all right or that everything is going well; to maintain an appearance of wealth, comfort, or propriety.
For my father's sake, I thought I must keep up appearances, but the food stuck in my throat, and I could not swallow another mouthful.

With tact and management it would be possible to partially satisfy creditors, and keep up appearances for six months more.

Synonyms

maintain appearances
save appearances

Translations

pretend to be all right

French: sauver les apparences (fr)
Hungarian: fenntartja a látszatot
Italian: mantenere le apparenze

Russian: сохранять хорошую мину при плохой игре
Spanish: mantener las apariencias (es)
Swedish: hålla skenet uppe

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