to fall flat on one's face
5
7.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
fracasar estrepitosamente
- Then he tripped over a stone and fell flat on his face.
- going to fall flat on your face
- then falls flat on his face
- just fell flat on my face
Examples
-
He gets up, runs for the door, and falls flat on his face.
Fiction book (1998) -
Conventional wisdom has it, if you think you're gonna fall flat on your face, better not do it in front of a crowd.
-
Yeah, I went after it and it fell flat on its face in two weeks, and I never talked to that person again.
-
I hope he falls flat on his face in there.
Fiction book (1990) -
You'll fall flat on your face.
-
As the crew jumps down, Tim trips and falls flat on his face.
Fiction book (1991) -
Taking one step out in the middle of a wide yawn, he fell flat on his face while they both watched.
Fiction book (1999) -
He tries to put his shoes on and falls flat on his face.
Fiction book (1991) -
Obama is going to fall flat on his face without his sidekick Valerie Garrett and no teleprompter.
Blog text (10) -
After working hard on my presentation, I was disappointed when it fell flat on my face during the meeting.
Synonyms
38
6.1
Fail to do something you are responsible for
28
4.4
To fall suddenly in price or value
19
4.9
To fail to get a response or interest from people
11
6.6
To feel embarrassed and seem less respected in front of other people
6
7.6
To fail badly and embarrass yourself in front of other people
1
4.2
Do something that is a serious and embarrassing mistake
1
9.4
To fail at something in a clumsy way
To fail completely in an embarrassing way
To make a serious, embarrassing mistake by being careless
Antonyms
How Badly
- Informal
139
5.6
44
4.3
- Informal
5
7.1
- Informal
19
4.9
14
5.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
fall + flat + on + one's + face
The meaning 'to fail completely or in an embarrassing way' is closely tied to the literal image of someone falling face‑first, so a learner who knows 'fall', 'flat' and 'face' can plausibly infer the embarrassing/failure sense. However, this is a conventionalized metaphorical extension (physical fall → social/performative failure) rather than a strictly compositional, predictable meaning, so it is not fully transparent.
Etymology
The idiom fall flat on one's face comes from a clear picture of someone tripping and falling flat on their face, which looks painful and very embarrassing. That's why the phrase means 'to fail completely or in an embarrassing way'.