To live down something (or live something down) is to stop feeling embarrassed about something you have done, or a mistake you have made.
Examples of use:
1. He forgot to moor the boat properly. It will be a long time before he lives that down!
2. A. I feel so stupid for falling over on stage in front of all those people.
B. Don’t worry. You will soon live it down.
3. She’s still trying to live down the fact that her skirt fell down at work!
4. He crashed his car into a lampost at the weekend. He says he’ll never live it down.
| infinitive |
live down |
| present simple |
live down and lives down |
| -ing form |
living down |
| past simple |
lived down |
| past participle |
live down |
Can you write a sentence with the phrasal verb ‘live down‘?
Have you done something that was difficult to live down?
Image by TomJByrne
