20+ Face Idioms in English with Meanings and Examples

Face idioms are phrases and expressions that use words related to the human face to convey a particular meaning. These idioms can be found in many different languages and cultures, and they often have interesting histories and origins. This reference will explore some of the most common face idioms in English and their meanings.

Face Idioms List

Common Face Idioms in English

  • Put the Best Face On (Something)
  • Rub (Something) in Someone’s Face
  • Until You’re Blue in the Face
  • Face the music
  • Long face
  • Save face
  • Lose face
  • Face the facts
  • Put on a brave face
  • Face like thunder
  • Cut off your nose to spite your face

Mouth Idioms

  • All Mouth And No Trousers
  • Bad Taste In One’s Mouth
  • Big mouth
  • Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth
  • Butter Wouldn’t Melt in (Someone’s) Mouth
  • By/through Word of Mouth
  • Foam at the mouth
  • Put Your Foot In Your Mouth
  • Run off at the Mouth
  • Shoot one’s mouth off

Teeth Idioms

  • By the Skin of One’s Teeth
  • Cut Your Teeth on Something
  • Grind One’s Teeth
  • Armed to the Teeth

Chin Idioms

  • Chin music
  • Chin Up; Keep Your Chin Up
  • Lead with one’s chin
  • Take It on the Chin

Lip Idioms

  • Bite one’s lip
  • Button one’s lip
  • Give Lip Service to
  • Keep a Stiff Upper Lip
  • Loose lips sink ships
  • Read my lips
  • Shoot from the lip
  • Slip of the lip
  • Tight-Lipped
  • Zip One’s Lip

Eye Idioms

List of idioms with eyes in English.

  • A Sight for Sore Eyes
  • All Eyes And Ears
  • All Eyes Are On
  • An Eye for an Eye
  • Catch Someone’s Eye
  • Cry Your Eyes Out
  • Keep an Eye On
  • Keep an eye peeled
  • See Eye to Eye
  • See Something/somebody Out of the Corner of Your Eye
  • To be the apple of someone’s eye
  • Turn a Blind Eye (to)
  • Wandering Eye
  • Black Eye
  • Blue Eyed Boy
  • Baby Blues

Nose Idioms

List of idioms with nose in English.

  • Cut Off Your Nose to Spite Your Face
  • Have Your Nose in the Air
  • It’s No Skin off My (Your) Nose (Back)
  • Keep Your Nose Clean
  • Keeping One’s Nose to the Grindstone
  • On the Nose
  • Powder One’s Nose
  • Right Under (One’s) Nose
  • Rub Someone’s Nose in (Something)
  • Stick Your Nose into Something
  • Have a Nose for (Something)

Ear Idioms

List of idioms with ears in English.

  • All Ears
  • Give Someone an Earful
  • I’m All Ears
  • Lend an Ear
  • Play It by Ear
  • That’s Music to My Ears
  • The Walls Have Ears
  • Wet Behind the Ears

Face Idioms with Meaning and Examples

Idioms with Face

Put the Best Face On (Something)

  • Meaning: to present something in the best possible light, even if the situation is not ideal.
  • Example: We didn’t win the game, but let’s put the best face on it and say that we played well.

Rub (Something) in Someone’s Face

  • Meaning: to remind them of something they failed at or to make them feel bad about it.
  • Example: I know I made a mistake, but there’s no need to rub it in my face.

Until You’re Blue in the Face

  • Meaning: to do it for a long time without success.
  • Example: You can try to convince him until you’re blue in the face, but he won’t change his mind.

Face the music

  • Meaning: To confront the consequences of one’s actions, usually unpleasant ones.
  • Example: After making a mistake on the project, I knew I had to face the music and accept responsibility in front of my team.

Long face

  • Meaning: A facial expression that shows sadness or disappointment.
  • Example: When she saw the birthday party was canceled, she had such a long face.

Save face

  • Meaning: To preserve one’s reputation or dignity after a failure or embarrassment.
  • Example: He tried to save face by saying he had let the other team win on purpose.

Lose face

  • Meaning: To be humiliated or to lose respect from others.
  • Example: He lost face with his colleagues after his mistakes were revealed.

Face value

  • Meaning: The apparent worth or truth of something, taken at surface level.
  • Example: You can’t always take what he says at face value; sometimes he exaggerates the truth.

Face the facts

  • Meaning: To accept and deal with the reality of a situation.
  • Example: You need to face the facts: if you don’t start studying, you’re not going to pass your exams.

Face up to

  • Meaning: To confront and deal with a difficult situation.
  • Example: It’s time to face up to our financial problems and create a budget.

Put on a brave face

  • Meaning: To pretend one is fine or happy in a difficult situation.
  • Example: Even though she was nervous, she put on a brave face during the interview.

Face like thunder

  • Meaning: To look very angry.
  • Example: When he heard the bad news, he had a face like thunder.

Cut off your nose to spite your face

  • Meaning: To do something out of spite that is self-damaging.
  • Example: She refused to cooperate with the team out of anger, but it was like cutting off her nose to spite her face, as the project’s failure affected her too.

Mouth Idioms

All Mouth And No Trousers

  • Meaning: Someone who talks about doing big, important things, but doesn’t take action or lacks the skills or talent to back up their words.
  • Example: He claims he can beat anyone in a race, but he’s all mouth and no trousers.

Bad Taste In One’s Mouth

  • Meaning: A lingering unpleasant feeling or memory; a sense of dissatisfaction or distaste.
  • Example: The way they were treated at the end of the project left a bad taste in their mouths.

Big Mouth

  • Meaning: A person who talks too much, especially about confidential or sensitive matters.
  • Example: Don’t tell her any secrets; she’s known to be a big mouth.

Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth

  • Meaning: To be born into a wealthy and privileged family.
  • Example: He’s never had to work a day in his life; he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Butter Wouldn’t Melt in (Someone’s) Mouth

  • Meaning: Someone appears to be innocent and sweet when, in fact, they may not be.
  • Example: She looks as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but she can be very cunning.

By/through Word of Mouth

  • Meaning: Information spread by people talking to each other, rather than through advertisements or official announcements.
  • Example: The small restaurant became popular by word of mouth.

Foam at the mouth

  • Meaning: To be extremely angry; to be in a state of uncontrollable rage.
  • Example: He was foaming at the mouth when he found out his car had been towed.

Put Your Foot In Your Mouth

  • Meaning: To say something embarrassing, tactless, or inappropriate, often by accident.
  • Example: I really put my foot in my mouth when I asked her about her job, not knowing she had been fired.

Run off at the Mouth

  • Meaning: To talk excessively, especially without saying anything of value or importance.
  • Example: He’s always running off at the mouth during meetings and wasting everyone’s time.

Teeth Idioms

By the Skin of One’s Teeth

  • Meaning: to barely succeed or survive.
  • Example: We made it to the airport by the skin of our teeth.

Cut Your Teeth on Something

  • Meaning: to learn or gain experience in a particular field.
  • Example: I cut my teeth on sales before moving into management.

Grind One’s Teeth

  • Meaning: to be angry or frustrated, especially when you can’t express it.
  • Example: He was grinding his teeth during the meeting because he disagreed with the decision.

Armed to the Teeth

  • Meaning: to have a lot of weapons or resources at your disposal.
  • Example: The army was armed to the teeth for the battle.

Chin Idioms

Chin music

  • Meaning: Idle talk or chatter; also, a punch or hit delivered to the chin, often used in baseball to describe the pitcher throwing a pitch near the batter’s chin.
  • Example: The players exchanged some chin music during the game, trying to intimidate each other.

Chin Up; Keep Your Chin Up

  • Meaning: Stay strong and don’t get discouraged; remain cheerful in a difficult situation.
  • Example: I know you’re having a hard time with the news, but keep your chin up; it’ll get better.

Lead with one’s chin

  • Meaning: To behave or speak in a way that makes one vulnerable to criticism or attack.
  • Example: By making such bold claims without any evidence, he’s really leading with his chin.

Take It on the Chin

  • Meaning: To endure a difficult or unpleasant situation bravely, without complaining.
  • Example: She took the criticism on the chin and promised to improve her work.

Lip Idioms

Bite one’s lip

  • Meaning: To try hard to not say something; to stop oneself from showing a reaction.
  • Example: She bit her lip to keep from laughing at the mistake.

Button one’s lip

  • Meaning: To stop talking or to keep silent.
  • Example: He wanted to argue but decided it was wiser to button his lip.

Give Lip Service to

  • Meaning: To express support or agreement verbally but not take any action to demonstrate it.
  • Example: They gave lip service to the cause, but when it came time to donate, they did nothing.

Keep a Stiff Upper Lip

  • Meaning: To remain resolute and unemotional in the face of adversity or difficulty.
  • Example: Even during the funeral, he kept a stiff upper lip.

Loose lips sink ships

  • Meaning: Careless talk can lead to disastrous consequences; originally used to warn against unguarded talk during wartime.
  • Example: Remember, loose lips sink ships, so let’s keep the surprise party a secret.

Read my lips

  • Meaning: Listen carefully to what I am saying; used to emphasize an important point.
  • Example: Read my lips: there will be no tax increases this year.

Shoot from the lip

  • Meaning: To speak rashly or without careful consideration.
  • Example: He tends to shoot from the lip, which often gets him into trouble.

Slip of the lip

  • Meaning: An unintentional mistake in speaking, often revealing something not meant to be shared.
  • Example: I didn’t mean to reveal the secret—it was just a slip of the lip.

Tight-Lipped

  • Meaning: Unwilling to speak about something; keeping one’s thoughts or intentions hidden.
  • Example: She remained tight-lipped about her plans for the weekend.

Zip One’s Lip

  • Meaning: To stop talking or to keep quiet about something.
  • Example: The kids zipped their lips when the teacher walked into the room.

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