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laugh on the other side of one's face. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
laugh on the other side of one's face, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
laugh on the other side of one's face in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
laugh on the other side of one's face you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Verb
laugh on the other side of one's face (third-person singular simple present laughs on the other side of one's face, present participle laughing on the other side of one's face, simple past and past participle laughed on the other side of one's face)
- (UK, intransitive, informal) To experience discomfiture after displaying cockiness.
- You'll be laughing on the other side of your face when the police find out you've been lying to them.
1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. II:Socialism? Ha! ha! ha! Where’s the money to come from? Ha! ha! ha!... Hitler will at any rate go down in history as the man who made the City of London laugh on the wrong side of its face. For the first time in their lives the comfortable were uncomfortable, the professional optimists had to admit that there was something wrong.
Translations
See also
Further reading
- “be laughing on the other side of your face”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
- “you ll be laughing on the other side of your face” (US) / “you ll be laughing on the other side of your face” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
- “laugh on the other side of one's face”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “somebody will be laughing on the other side of their face” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
- “laugh on the other side of ones face”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “laugh on the other side of one's face”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.