English, baby!

staring me in the face

Date: Nov 03 2004

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“It didn’t really occur to me, because, of course, I don’t notice the most obvious things until they’re staring me in the face. ”
- Matthew Broderick, in an interview with Richard Ouzounian of the Toronto Star

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

when something is staring you in the face, it means that it is clear or obvious; right in front of you

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

You might use this phrase when you don’t notice something for a long time and then realize that it is there.
For example, if a person gets fired from his or her job, he or she might not notice the problems until they are staring at him or her in the face.
Usually we use this to talk about things staring us in the face that are somewhat negative.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

””I am so disappointed in myself. I should’ve noticed that my friends were angry with me. The clues were practically staring me in the face.”“

””I never notice typos until they are staring me in the face. It’s terrible because I should really not make mistakes like that.”“

””The mechanical problems with my car were staring me in the face for several months but I didn’t do anything about them. Now my car needs a lot of repairs.”“

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

It means something is very obvious, confronting s/one, in need of (s/one’s) action or attention. For example, The answer is staring you in the face. (I heard it in one movie which I saw yesterday.)
by Sherry (ShenZhen, China)
If they are staring you in face, they are obvious, although you may be not immediately aware of them.
by Matilda (Taipei, ROC)
“staring me at the face” means obvious, used for something that is easy to see how important it is, something visible that affects your concerns.
by Pinkie (Hanoi, Vietnam)
It means that you do not see something until you have it quite near or you see it with great evidence.
by Marina (Lleida, Catalonien)
by “stare me in the face”, it means something is very apparent, showing itself completely before me.
by loretta (shijiazhuang, china)
when something stares you are your face it means it’s too obvious
by monica (buenos aires, argentina)
“Starting me in the face” means that the thing happens just before you. You didn’t realise it before until it comes right before you.
by yun (taipei, taiwan)
show something to somebody in the most frighten way! like hit somebody’s head, shout at someone.
by hui (wuxi, china)
When you say it is staring me on the face it means that it is too obvious not to notice!
by Arevik (Gavar, Aremenia)
When someyhing is staring me in the face that may mean something happens to me or around me~
by EVA (, Taiwan)
it is just keep looking at hin on his face with out stoping.
by Geni (addis ababa, Ethiopia)