lose face

A calque of Chinese 丟臉／丢脸 (diūliǎn), literally meaning “lose face”.

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lose face (third-person singular simple present loses face, present participle losing face, simple past and past participle lost face)

1. (idiomatic) To lose the respect of others; to be humiliated or experience public disgrace.
   • 1986, John Shelby Spong, Beyond Moralism: A Contemporary View of the Ten Commandments, HarperCollins (2000), →ISBN, unnumbered page:

     Ahithophel, Absalom's chief counsel, hanged himself when he lost face after his advice was rejected.

   • 2011, Mel Robbins, Stop Saying You're Fine: Discover a More Powerful You, Crown Archetype (2011), →ISBN, page 221:

     When you start to feel unmotivated, you will look for ways to weasel out of your commitments. We all do it. If there's a stealth way to back out, without ever losing face, you will do it without hesitation.

   • 2012, Sharon Pincott, Battle for the President's Elephants: Life, Lunacy and Elation in the African Bush, Jacana Media (2012), →ISBN, page 97:

     He had arranged for one of his managers to be present in the office with us, so I should have realised immediately that there was little chance of him backing down since that would have meant losing face in front of a subordinate.

• loss of face

• give face
• save face

Face (sociological concept) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia