to push under the carpet
- idiom
- UK
:
ocultar problemas
- The company tried to push under the carpet the complaints from employees.
Examples
-
Rather than address corruption, officials have continued to push under the carpet any allegations.
-
Too often, institutions push under the carpet issues that make them uncomfortable.
-
Don't push under the carpet the financial issues!
-
They always push under the carpet their mistakes.
-
Instead of addressing the issue directly, they chose to push under the carpet all the complaints from the staff.
-
The manager decided to push under the carpet the negative feedback rather than confront the problems within the team.
-
Rather than solving the budget problems, the committee preferred to push under the carpet the discussion about spending cuts.
Synonyms
69
4.7
To ignore something wrong on purpose instead of reporting it
41
5.4
Choose to ignore something wrong
38
5.9
To ignore a small mistake to avoid an argument
22
6.5
Make a problem or mistake seem less serious by leaving out details
15
4.9
To avoid answering a question or dealing with a problem directly
8
7.7
To hide a problem instead of dealing with it openly
7
4.1
Refuse to think about something, for example worries or objections
6
5.2
To make people look at something else to avoid criticism
5
5.6
To act as if you do not see something to avoid making someone feel embarrassed
5
7.9
Try to hide problems instead of dealing with them
5
7.7
To ignore a problem instead of dealing with it
2
7.2
Stop people finding out about a mistake, crime, or embarrassing event
1
6.0
To avoid answering a difficult question by changing the subject
To keep secret wrong actions or mistakes from other people
To hide problems or make them seem less serious
To quietly stop something from being talked about
To ignore an obvious problem and pretend it is not there
Treat a problem as less important to avoid dealing with it
To avoid answering a question directly by being unclear
Antonyms
How Hidden
314
3.7
∞
1.0
- UK
59
5.3
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly motivated by the literal image of pushing something beneath a carpet to hide it: 'push' (move), 'under' (beneath), and 'carpet' (a covering) combine to evoke concealment. This spatial-concealment metaphor (cf. 'sweep under the rug/carpet') is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will likely infer the idiomatic sense of ignoring or hiding problems.
Etymology
The idiom push under the carpet comes from the simple image of someone sweeping dust or small things under a rug to hide them, using push, under and the carpet in the literal action. So, it means 'to ignore or hide' problems instead of dealing with them.