Idiom
eat humble pie
Meaning
To admit one's faults; to make a humiliating apology.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He was wrong, so he had to eat humble pie.”
“I eat humble pie after I realize my mistake.”
“After his bold prediction proved completely incorrect, the manager had to eat humble pie in front of his team.”
“The chef had to eat humble pie when a customer pointed out that the main course was actually undercooked.”
“The politician had to eat humble pie during the live interview when the reporter showed evidence that contradicted her earlier claims about the new law.”
“Despite his initial arrogance regarding the project's success, he was ultimately forced to eat humble pie when the final results revealed his significant errors.”
Examples
simple
“He was wrong, so he had to eat humble pie.”
“I eat humble pie after I realize my mistake.”
contextual
“After his bold prediction proved completely incorrect, the manager had to eat humble pie in front of his team.”
“The chef had to eat humble pie when a customer pointed out that the main course was actually undercooked.”
“The politician had to eat humble pie during the live interview when the reporter showed evidence that contradicted her earlier claims about the new law.”
complex
“Despite his initial arrogance regarding the project's success, he was ultimately forced to eat humble pie when the final results revealed his significant errors.”
Origin
The term derives from a rebracketing of the spoken phrase *a numble pie*, referring to a dish prepared from the entrails of a deer. Through a shift in phonetic boundaries, the initial consonant of the noun was reassigned to the article, producing *an umble pie*. This linguistic migration, occurring alongside the identical sound of the adjective *humble*, allowed the literal consumption of offal to be refashioned into a figurative gesture of social or personal submission.
Key words
Related idioms
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