to put on a game face
- idiom
- Informal
:
ponerse una máscara de confianza
- Athletes often put on a game face moments before a big match.
Examples
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It's important to put on a game face when you're facing tough competition.
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Before walking into the negotiating room, she put on a game face to hide her nerves.
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You need to put on a game face for the big presentation!
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Before the match, she always puts on a game face.
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Before the big presentation, she decided to put on a game face to boost her confidence.
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Even when facing tough competition, it's important to put on a game face and stay focused.
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He always puts on a game face before his sports matches to show determination.
How Confident
7
7.6
- Informal
- Informal
4
7.4
33
4.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase transparently combines 'put on' (adopt/pretend) with 'face' (visible expression), and 'game' supplies a competitive/confident nuance, so a learner who knows the constituents could plausibly infer 'adopt a competitive expression.' However, the specific idiomatic sense of preparing oneself mentally—a determined or confident attitude rather than merely changing one’s facial expression—is somewhat figurative and not fully predictable without exposure. For these reasons it is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
The phrase put on a game face may come from players who would put on face paint or a serious look before a match, like putting on a mask to get ready to play. So today, to put on a game face means to hide fear and show a 'confident' or 'determined' attitude before a challenge.