Word.ws English Dictionary

saving someone's face

saving someone's face is the present participle and gerund of save someone's face.

Meaning of save someone's face

Verb

save someone's face (third-person singular simple present saves someone's face, present participle saving someone's face, simple past and past participle saved someone's face)

  1. (idiomatic) to preserve someone's pride, especially as defined by customary social settings.

Questions about saving someone's face

What is saving someone's face the present participle and gerund of?
Saving someone's face is the present participle and gerund of save someone's face.

Words near saving someone's face in the dictionary

  1. saving one's breath to cool one's porridge
  2. saving one's neck
  3. saving one's skin
  4. saving over
  5. saving someone's bacon
  6. saving someone's face
  7. saving someone's life
  8. saving someone's skin
  9. saving something for a rainy day
  10. saving the day
  11. saving the furniture

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: saving someone's face (page history and authors); save someone's face (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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