Meaning of figuraccia in Italian
Figuraccia refers to an embarrassing or awkward situation. We can translate it into English as “bad impression” or “gaffe”.
| Origin | From the Italian word figura, which means “figure” or “appearance”; adding the descriptive suffix -accia gives it a negative meaning, emphasizing a particularly bad situation, the one that will make you sleepless at night while your brain mulls things over |
| Pronunciation | /fiɡuˈrattʃa/ |
Figuraccia
Bad impression, gaffe
Figuraccia in Italian: Different forms
Like most nouns in Italian, figuraccia has two articles (definite or indefinite articles) and two numbers (singular or plural).
Una figuraccia
A bad impression
Delle figuracce
Some bad impressions
La figuraccia
The bad impression
Le figuracce
The bad impressions
Figuraccia in Italian: Examples
Mi sono vergognato io per la sua figuraccia.
I felt embarrassed for his blunder.
Ho fatto una figuraccia in biblioteca.
I made a fool of myself at the library.
Questa giornalista fa spesso figuracce in diretta TV.
This journalist often makes embarrassing blunders on live TV.
Non hai paura di fare una figuraccia?
Aren’t you afraid of making a fool of yourself?
Figuraccia in Italian: Related words
On the other hand, if you do a bella figura, it means you make a good impression or create a positive image.
Vestiti bene, parla solo quando è il tuo turno e farai bella figura.
Dress well, speak only when it’s your turn, and you’ll make a good impression.
And if you like curse words, you can also say fare una figura di merda, meaning “to make a shitty impression”.
Che figura di merda!
What a shitty impression!
More free Italian resources
You might want to keep learning Italian online with these free Italian resources:
Aiuta Lingookies con un 👍!
❤️ If you liked this lesson on the meaning of figuraccia in Italian, share it with your friends!