to wash dirty laundry in public
- idiom
- Informal
:
lavar la ropa sucia en público
- Some employees feel uncomfortable when managers wash dirty laundry in public at team meetings.
Examples
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She regrets washing dirty laundry in public during that heated interview.
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It’s best not to wash dirty laundry in public if you want to keep family matters private.
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Don't wash dirty laundry in public!
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Why do you always wash dirty laundry in public?
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It's unprofessional to wash dirty laundry in public during work meetings where everyone can hear.
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After their breakup, he decided to wash dirty laundry in public by sharing their personal issues on social media.
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Avoid washing dirty laundry in public; it's better to resolve conflicts in private with those involved.
Synonyms
1
8.5
To tell private or bad things about someone to other people
To talk about private or embarrassing family matters in public
To talk about private, embarrassing problems in public
Antonyms
How Public
- Informal
176
4.1
∞
1.6
113
4.6
76
2.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
wash + dirty + laundry + in + public
The words are literal, but the idiomatic reading depends on interpreting 'dirty laundry' metaphorically as private or embarrassing matters; that metaphoric shift is not fully predictable from knowing the constituents 'wash', 'dirty', 'laundry', 'in', 'public' alone. Learners can partly infer the idea of making private 'dirty' matters public, yet the conventionalized metaphor requires prior exposure, so the phrase is not fully transparent.
Etymology
Wash dirty laundry in public paints the clear picture of someone literally washing their dirty laundry where everyone can watch. Because laundry is private, the image shows private problems being shown to others, so the phrase means 'to discuss or reveal private or embarrassing matters openly'.