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Glite Dictionary
to face brickbats

to face brickbats

8.9
To receive harsh criticism in public
  • phrasal verb
: recibir críticas
  • After leaking the report, the manager had to face brickbats from both staff and media.

Examples

  • Even talented artists sometimes face brickbats for their controversial work.

  • The new policy announcement made the CEO face brickbats at the press conference.

  • Don't face brickbats!

  • The politician had to face brickbats after the controversial speech.

  • After leaking the report, the manager had to face brickbats from both staff and media.

  • Even talented artists sometimes face brickbats for their controversial work.

  • The new policy announcement made the CEO face brickbats at the press conference.

Synonyms

to face backlash
vsto face brickbats
  • Literature
4 6.1

To receive strong public criticism for something you do or say

is public harsh remarks directed at someone rather than broad collective reaction
to take a lot of flak
vsto face brickbats
1 7.4

Get a lot of criticism or blame from other people

is public harsh remarks that may not accuse responsibility directly
to face vitriol
vsto face brickbats
1 9.5

To get very harsh public criticism

is public criticism that is harsh but less personally abusive

Antonyms

compliment
300 1.6

A polite remark that praises someone or something

praise
220 1.0

Words or actions that show admiration for someone

How Severe

vilification
  • Formal
6 8.4
to face brickbats
8.9
criticism
649 3.0

Surface Forms

face brickbats infinitive
faced brickbats past
faced brickbats past participle
facing brickbats present participle
faces brickbats third person singular

Morphology

face + brickbat

The meaning 'to receive criticism' is directly compositional from 'face' (to confront or deal with) plus 'brickbats' (harsh verbal criticism). This follows the transparent verb + object pattern (e.g. 'face criticism') and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents, though 'brickbat' is a relatively rare lexical item.

Etymology

Face brickbats may come from the image of a crowd throwing brickbats (small pieces of brick) at someone's face to show anger. That strong picture explains why the phrase means 'to receive criticism', especially in public.