face-saving

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

an idiom and social concept describing actions taken to preserve or protect one's public reputation and dignity — and crucially the dignity of others — in situations where a mistake, failure, or embarrassing circumstance might otherwise cause public humiliation; face-saving is particularly prominent in East and Southeast Asian social contexts where the concept of face — Chinese mianzi and lian, Japanese mentsu, Korean chemyeon, Malay maruah — is a fundamental organising principle of social interaction, governing how conflicts are managed, how criticism is delivered, and how agreements are reached; effective face-saving allows disagreements to be resolved and mistakes to be acknowledged without the public shaming that would rupture relationships; the concept is studied in cross-cultural communication as a key source of misunderstanding between Western and Asian business and diplomatic interlocutors