Italian word of the day
| Pronunciation | |
| English translation | Bad impression, 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 |
Different forms of figuraccia
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
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? |
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
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