# foot-in-mouth disease

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/foot-in-mouth-disease
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A tendency to make remarks that are embarrassingly wrong or inappropriate.

## Examples

- He always says the wrong thing because he has foot-in-mouth disease.
- You often suffer from foot-in-mouth disease when you are nervous.
- Does he have foot-in-mouth disease or is he just mean?
- I really tried to be polite at the dinner party, but my foot-in-mouth disease made me insult the host's cooking.
- My brother has a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease and accidentally told our mother about her surprise birthday party two weeks early.
- She was doing well in the interview until her foot-in-mouth disease kicked in and she started complaining about her previous manager.
- Despite his best intentions to remain diplomatic during the negotiations, his chronic foot-in-mouth disease caused him to offend the delegates with an ill-timed joke.

## Origin

The idiom arose as a humorous conflation of the veterinary ailment foot-and-mouth disease and the established expression to put one's foot in one's mouth. It applies the phonological structure of the former to the social consequences of the latter.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.