Meaning & use
eat crow
To admit humiliating error or defeat and accept humbling criticism after being proven wrong.
See it in a sentence
After predicting a landslide loss, the pundit had to eat crow when his team won.
She hated eating crow, but she publicly apologized once the facts proved her wrong.
A note on using this word
The idiom is American in origin and always implies embarrassment, unlike simply 'admitting a mistake.'
Words with a similar meaning
backpedaladmit defeat
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