face like a fiddle
- idiom
- UK
:
cara de joven
- At 60, she still has a face like a fiddle!
Examples
-
Despite her busy lifestyle, she always manages to keep a face like a fiddle.
-
Even at eighty years old, his friends said he still had a face like a fiddle.
-
After returning from her spa retreat, she had a face like a fiddle.
-
He has a face like a fiddle despite his age.
-
Despite being in her seventies, she has a face like a fiddle that makes her look much younger.
-
His friends were amazed that he has a face like a fiddle even after all these years.
-
With regular skincare, she maintains a face like a fiddle, showing no signs of aging.
Synonyms
7
3.5
A face that makes someone look younger and more innocent than they are
1
5.6
A person whose face looks much younger than their age
A person who looks attractive on television
Antonyms
How Youthful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The particle 'like' makes this a simile so a learner will know the phrase compares a face to a fiddle, but the attribute being compared (healthy, youthful, well‑preserved) is a metaphorical association not predictable from 'fiddle' as a musical instrument. Because the comparison cue is clear but the specific mapped meaning is not derivable without prior exposure, the expression is partially but not fully transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
Face like a fiddle comes from the older saying fit as a fiddle, where a fiddle was seen as a small, neat, polished instrument. The picture of something smooth and well kept led people to use face like a fiddle to say a face looks 'healthy' or 'youthful'.