English Reference

Idiom

adorn oneself with borrowed plumes

Meaning

To claim the honor of another for oneself.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Examples

“He tries to impress everyone by adorning himself with borrowed plumes.”

“The writer lost all credibility when people realized he was adorning himself with borrowed plumes from obscure journals.”

“The politician sought to bolster his reputation by adorning himself with borrowed plumes, falsely claiming credit for the successful policies of his predecessor.”

Examples

simple

“He tries to impress everyone by adorning himself with borrowed plumes.”

contextual

“The writer lost all credibility when people realized he was adorning himself with borrowed plumes from obscure journals.”

complex

“The politician sought to bolster his reputation by adorning himself with borrowed plumes, falsely claiming credit for the successful policies of his predecessor.”

Key words

Related idioms

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English Reference