Word.ws English Dictionary

make a show of oneself

make a show of oneself verb: to embarrass oneself or others in public.

Verb

make a show of oneself (third-person singular simple present makes a show of oneself, present participle making a show of oneself, simple past and past participle made a show of oneself)

  1. (Ireland, idiomatic) To embarrass oneself or others in public.
    • Will you stop singing, please? You're making a show of yourself.
    • Ní raibh aon ghnó agam an t‑eiteach a thabhairt do mar do dhéanfadh sé seódh dhíom : I knew better than to refuse him, for he'd make a show of me.1929, Tomás Ó Criomhthain, An t-Oileánach, Dublin, page 123

Synonyms of make a show of oneself

Forms of make a show of oneself

third-person singular presentmakes a show of oneself
present participlemaking a show of oneself
past participlemade a show of oneself
pastmade a show of oneself

Questions about make a show of oneself

What does make a show of oneself mean?
Make a show of oneself means to embarrass oneself or others in public.
What part of speech is make a show of oneself?
Make a show of oneself is a verb.
What is the past tense of make a show of oneself?
The past tense of make a show of oneself is made a show of oneself.

Words near make a show of oneself in the dictionary

  1. make a production out of
  2. make a public spectacle of oneself
  3. make a rabbit bite a bulldog
  4. make a run for it
  5. make a scene
  6. make a show of oneself
  7. make a silk purse of a sow's ear
  8. make a spectacle of oneself
  9. make a splash
  10. make a stand
  11. make a statement

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: make a show of oneself (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-make a show of oneself.ogg.

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