falling flat on one's face
Spectacular public humiliation
Falling flat on one's face is failing completely and conspicuously, often after confident effort.
The literal image—tripping and landing face-first—captures the sudden, embarrassing nature of the failure: The product launch fell flat on its face.
Sometimes shortened to fall flat: His joke fell flat.
- tripPlanned travel somewhere
- face plantFacefirst fall forward
- faceplantFall forward onto face
- blunderFoolish, costly mistake
- embarrassmentSelf-conscious unease
egg on face · stumble · error · slip · debacle · crash and burn · flop · epic fail · shame · misstep · miscalculation · mortification · public humiliation · frustration · wipeout · belly flop · pratfall · biting the dust
falling flat on one's facenailing it
Achieving flawless execution
sticking the landing · landing on one's feet · crushing it · triumphing · killing it
falling flat on one's facesticking the landing
Finishing a difficult move perfectly
falling flat on one's facegoing out with a bang
Ending memorably and dramatically
fallen, falling, flatten, flattens, flattened, flattening, flatter, flattest, flatness