face the music
Syllables: face the mus·icUK/ˌfeɪs ðə ˈmjuːzɪk/US/ˌfeɪs ðə ˈmjuzɪk/
face the music verb: to accept or confront the unpleasant consequences of one's actions.
Verb
face the music (third-person singular simple present faces the music, present participle facing the music, simple past and past participle faced the music)
- To accept or confront the unpleasant consequences of one's actions.
- As for that husband of yours, I don't think much of him, and I tell you so candidly. Running away and leaving you to face the music.1926, Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
- Hudson personally would not face the music at that meeting and the business could hardly proceed for groans and hisses and cries of "Hudson! Hudson! Why is Hudson not here?" and so the ungrateful shareholders to whom Hudson had generously paid dividends out of their own capital cast out Hudson bag...1941 December, Kenneth Brown, “The Newmarket & Chesterford Railway—II”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 533
- Synonyms:
- face up to, pay the penalty, pay the price
face the music meaning in Tamil
face the music in Tamil
- விளைவுகளை எதிர்கொள்ளுதல்
Examples of face the music in a sentence
- Hudson personally would not face the music at that meeting and the business could hardly proceed for groans and hisses and cries of "Hudson!1941 December, Kenneth Brown, “The Newmarket & Chesterford Railway—II”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page...
- Trevor Philips (Steven Ogg): Time to face the music!2013, Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto V, scene: Exiting a robbed bank surrounded by police with minigun and ballistic suit, level/area...
Synonyms of face the music
Forms of face the music
| third-person singular present | faces the music |
|---|---|
| present participle | facing the music |
| past participle | faced the music |
| past | faced the music |
Origin of face the music
Origin uncertain; possible sources which have been suggested include the following: * A performer on a stage facing the music from the orchestra pit when confronting a possibly hostile audience. * The historical act of a soldier who was dishonourably discharged from military service being paraded in front of other soldiers to the sound of a drum or music. * A soldier facing the noise of battle (music being military slang for the sound of gunfire or other ordnance).
Words that rhyme with face the music
Questions about face the music
- What does face the music mean?
- Face the music means to accept or confront the unpleasant consequences of one's actions.
- What is face the music in Tamil?
- Face the music in Tamil is விளைவுகளை எதிர்கொள்ளுதல். See Face the music meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use face the music in a sentence?
- Hudson personally would not face the music at that meeting and the business could hardly proceed for groans and hisses and cries of "Hudson!
- What part of speech is face the music?
- Face the music is a verb.
- How do you pronounce face the music?
- Face the music is pronounced /ˌfeɪs ðə ˈmjuːzɪk/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of face the music?
- The past tense of face the music is faced the music.
Words near face the music in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: face the music (page history and authors); face the music (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-face the music.ogg.
Cite this entry: “face the music.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/face_the_music. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.