to live down
4
7.7
- phrasal verb
- /lɪv daʊn/
:
superar
- One of my range buddies is still living down a mistake he made three years ago, which resulted in no injuries, because there are big parts of the gun culture that are downright obsessive about safety.
- live down your reputation
- live down the shame
- never live down
But nevertheless, it doesn't allow me to live down the shame I feel when my wife brings up this study.
- But nevertheless, it doesn't allow me to live down the shame I feel when my wife brings up this study.
- My demo failed, and to this day I'm trying to live down my shame of not knowing it would be tested with feck.
Examples
-
Pickles and Kevin are still sleeping, so I haven't heard their recaps yet, but I'm sure this is something that I will never live down.
Blog text (23) -
Oxford, Mississippi - This one is going to take a long time for Hugh Freeze to live down.
Blog text (13) -
"It takes time for a person to live down a bad reputation.
Fiction book (1996) -
But you can live down a scandal if you want to.
-
- He's got his reputation to live down.
-
Despite its recent reforms, the party had not been able to live down its reputation for authoritarianism and corruption.
Academic text (1995) -
"My sister tried to kill Morgen—a fact it seems I will never live down."
Fiction book (1991) -
That Mr. Allott will be one huge flaw that history will never let Romney live down.
Blog text (6) -
Dan Quayle, tagged with a reputation as a dumb blond male, never lived down his misspelling of "potato."
Blog text (32) -
After that embarrassing moment at the party, he is trying to live down his mistake and earn back his friends' trust.
How Forgotten
4
7.7
431
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
live + down
The meaning is partially recoverable from 'live' (to continue existing/behave) plus 'down' (suggesting reduction or diminishment), so a learner might infer a sense of reducing the impact of something. However, the specific pragmatic idea of making people forget or forgive a past embarrassment requires metaphorical and cultural inference rather than straightforward composition, so it is not fully predictable.
Etymology
The phrasal verb live down gives a simple picture: by continuing to live and behave well, a past shame slowly sinks down out of people's minds. So it means 'to be forgiven or forgotten'.