make a spectacle of oneself

English

WOTD – 21 March 2016

Pronunciation

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Verb

make a spectacle of oneself (third-person singular simple present makes a spectacle of oneself, present participle making a spectacle of oneself, simple past and past participle made a spectacle of oneself)

1. (idiomatic, originally US) To embarrass oneself or others in public.

   She had far too much to drink and made a spectacle of herself by flirting with everyone.

Synonyms

• make a fool of oneself, make an exhibition of oneself (UK), make a show of oneself (Ireland)

Translations

To embarrass oneself or others in public

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: ставам за смях (stavam za smjah), излагам се (izlagam se)
• Catalan: fer un espectacle
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 出洋相 (ceot¹ joeng⁴ soeng³)

  Hakka: 出洋相 (cud⁵ yong² xiong⁴)

  Hokkien: 出洋相 (chhut-iông-siòng / chhut-iâng-siàng)

  Mandarin: 出洋相 (zh) (chū yángxiàng)

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: een belachelijk figuur slaan, zichzelf voor gek zetten
• Finnish: munata itsensä
• French: se donner en spectacle (fr), s’offrir en spectacle (fr), se couvrir de ridicule
• Galician: montar un espectáculo, face-lo ridículo, poñerse en ridículo, pórse en ridículo
• German: sich zum Affen machen (de), sich zum Narren machen (de), sich lächerlich machen, eine lächerliche Figur abgeben, unangenehm auffallen, sich blamieren (de)
• Hungarian: nevetségessé teszi magát
• Italian: dare spettacolo, farsi ridere dietro, rendersi ridicolo
• Japanese: 恥をさらす (はじをさらす, haji o sarasu)
• Polish: robić z siebie widowisko impf, zrobić z siebie widowisko pf
• Portuguese: fazer um papelão, passar ridículo, dar vexame, pagar mico (pt) (Brazil)
• Russian: сде́лать из себя́ посме́шище (sdélatʹ iz sebjá posméšišče), де́лать из себя́ посме́шище impf (délatʹ iz sebjá posméšišče), позо́риться (ru) impf (pozóritʹsja)
• Spanish: hacer el ridículo, dar la nota (es)
• Swedish: göra bort sig (sv)

See also

• make a scene