keep up appearances

English

Verb

keep up appearances

(idiomatic) To pretend to be all right or that everything is going well.
For my father's sake, I thought I must keep up appearances, but the food stuck in my throat, and I could not swallow another mouthful.

With tact and management it would be possible to partially satisfy creditors, and keep up appearances for six months more.

Synonyms

maintain appearances

Translations

pretend to be all right

French: sauver les apparences (fr)
Italian: mantenere le apparenze
Russian: сохранять хорошую мину при плохой игре

Spanish: mantener las apariencias (es)
Swedish: hålla skenet uppe

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.