live down

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

to overcome or recover from shame or embarrassment

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

vượt qua hoặc phục hồi từ nỗi xấu hổ hoặc ngượng ngùng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: reside in a lower location
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She tried to live down her mistake by apologizing publicly

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “live down” mean?

to overcome or recover from shame or embarrassment Literally: reside in a lower location

Is “live down” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.