show one's true colors

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Nautical origin. The word colors (or colours) refers to the flag or ensign which every ship is obliged to fly at sea. It was once a common deception of pirates to “sail under false colours” and fly a friendly flag in order to get within close range of potential targets (other ships) without exciting suspicion. Only when the pirate ship reached close quarters would it unfurl its true colours.

Pronunciation

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Verb

show one's true colors (third-person singular simple present shows one's true colors, present participle showing one's true colors, simple past showed one's true colors, past participle shown one's true colors or (US also) showed one's true colors)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To reveal how one really is, as opposed to how one has been portrayed or after having been deceptively and deliberately misleading.

Synonyms

Translations

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