put on a brave face

English

Verb

put on a brave face (third-person singular simple present puts on a brave face, present participle putting on a brave face, simple past and past participle put on a brave face)

1. (informal, without object) To behave in a brave or stoic manner.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Jeanine Patten-Coble, Struck by Hope: The True Story of Answering God’s Call and the Creation of Little Pink Houses of Hope, Read the Spirit Books, →ISBN:

     [You] put on a brave face, but the inside of your mind is on overdrive and your heart is full of fear and worry. You suddenly look at the people around you and see their pain so clearly.

Coordinate terms

• put a brave face on (“be confident about (something bad)”)

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: esittää rohkeaa
• Russian: храбри́ться (ru) (xrabrítʹsja)

See also

• grin and bear it
• whistle in the dark

Further reading

• “put on a brave face”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “put on a brave face”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

Anagrams

• put a brave face on