make a spectacle of oneself

English

WOTD – 21 March 2016

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Verb

make a spectacle of oneself (third-person singular simple present makes a spectacle of oneself, present participle making a spectacle of oneself, simple past and past participle made a spectacle of oneself)

(idiomatic, originally US) To embarrass oneself or others in public.
She had far too much to drink and made a spectacle of herself by flirting with everyone.

Synonyms

make a fool of oneself, make an exhibition of oneself (UK), make a show of oneself (Ireland)

Translations

To embarrass oneself or others in public

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Bulgarian: ставам за смях (stavam za smjah), излагам се (izlagam se)
Catalan: fer un espectacle
Chinese:
Cantonese: 出洋相 (ceot¹ joeng⁴ soeng³)

Hakka: 出洋相 (cud⁵ yong² xiong⁴)

Hokkien: 出洋相 (chhut-iông-siòng / chhut-iâng-siàng)

Mandarin: 出洋相 (zh) (chū yángxiàng)
Czech: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: een belachelijk figuur slaan, zichzelf voor gek zetten
Finnish: munata itsensä
French: se donner en spectacle (fr), s’offrir en spectacle (fr), se couvrir de ridicule
Galician: montar un espectáculo, face-lo ridículo, poñerse en ridículo, pórse en ridículo
German: sich zum Affen machen (de), sich zum Narren machen (de), sich lächerlich machen, eine lächerliche Figur abgeben, unangenehm auffallen, sich blamieren (de)
Hungarian: nevetségessé teszi magát
Italian: dare spettacolo, farsi ridere dietro, rendersi ridicolo
Japanese: 恥をさらす (はじをさらす, haji o sarasu)
Polish: robić z siebie widowisko impf, zrobić z siebie widowisko pf
Portuguese: fazer um papelão, passar ridículo, dar vexame, pagar mico (pt) (Brazil)
Russian: сде́лать из себя́ посме́шище (sdélatʹ iz sebjá posméšišče), де́лать из себя́ посме́шище impf (délatʹ iz sebjá posméšišče), позо́риться (ru) impf (pozóritʹsja)
Spanish: hacer el ridículo, dar la nota (es)
Swedish: göra bort sig (sv)