idiom · neutral
put one's foot in one's mouth
/pʊt wʌnz fʊt ɪn wʌnz maʊθ/put one's FOOT in one's MOUTH
to say something embarrassing or inappropriate, usually by accident
Examples
“I really put my foot in my mouth when I asked if she was pregnant.”
“He put his foot in his mouth during the meeting and apologised.”
“Try not to put your foot in your mouth when meeting the boss's family.”
Band 8 sentence
“I unintentionally put my foot in my mouth by complimenting her on something she had just lost confidence in.”
Collocations
- put your foot in your mouth
- really put one's foot in one's mouth
Word family
Common mistakes
put foot in mouth→put one's foot in one's mouth
put my foot into my mouth→put my foot in my mouth
Say it for a higher band
5say something embarrassing→6make an awkward remark→7+put one's foot in one's mouth
Synonyms
make an awkward comment
Easily confused
put your foot down
“When he saw the mess, he put his foot down and insisted on tidying up.”
Related words
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In Communication
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