emperor's new clothes

English

Etymology

After The Emperor's New Clothes, a tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

Pronunciation

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Noun

emperor's new clothes pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic) Something obvious and embarrassing that is politely ignored or that goes unacknowledged.
   • 2005 May 26, “Is an M&S suit the emperor's new clothes?”, in The Guardian, UK:

     Marks & Spencer announced a 19% fall in annual profits on Tuesday.

   • 2005 July 31, Jeff Sabatini, “2006 Lexus RX 400h: The hybrid emperor's new clothes”, in New York Times:

Synonyms

• elephant in the room

Translations

something obvious and embarrassing that is politely ignored

• Danish: kejserens nye klæder
• Finnish: keisarin uudet vaatteet
• Japanese: 裸の王様 (はだか・の・おおさま hadaka-no-ōsama)
• Portuguese: roupa nova do imperador f, roupas novas do imperador f
• Slovak: cisárove nové šaty
• Swedish: kejsarens nya kläder
• Vietnamese: bộ quần áo mới của hoàng đế