emperor's new clothes
English
Etymology
After The Emperor's New Clothes, a tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
emperor's new clothes pl (plural only)
- (idiomatic) Something obvious and embarrassing that is politely ignored or that goes unacknowledged.
- 2005 May 26, “Is an M&S suit the emperor's new clothes?”, in The Guardian, UK:
- Marks & Spencer announced a 19% fall in annual profits on Tuesday.
- 2005 July 31, Jeff Sabatini, “2006 Lexus RX 400h: The hybrid emperor's new clothes”, in New York Times:
Synonyms
Translations
something obvious and embarrassing that is politely ignored
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