mugged by reality
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Forced to accept an unpleasant reality
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Bị buộc phải chấp nhận một thực tế không mong muốn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: attacked by a thief
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The idealistic politician was mugged by reality when he took office
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 “mugged by reality” mean?
Forced to accept an unpleasant reality Literally: attacked by a thief
Is “mugged by reality” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.