taken down a peg
Ego got checked
To be taken down a peg is to have one's pride or self-importance reduced, usually through humiliation or correction.
The expression suggests someone elevated themselves too high and needed lowering: After boasting about his sales numbers, he was taken down a peg when the quarterly report revealed errors.
The peg evokes rungs on a ladder or notches marking rank.
- humbleUnassuming about oneself
- reprimandFormal expression of disapproval
- embarrassmentSelf-conscious unease
- public shamingCommunal reputational punishment
- humilityFreedom from arrogance
put in one's place · correction · power dynamics · authority · vernacular · deflate · bruised ego · comeuppance · reality check · shame · hierarchy · vulnerability · idiom · metaphor · phraseology · self-awareness · aphorism · proverb
- humiliationashamed, abasement, embarrassed, chagrin, mortified