Meaning & use
sing your own praises
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Meanings
phraseidiominformal
to talk proudly about your own achievements or good qualities
Grammar: Used with a possessive adjective that matches the subject: I sing my own praises, she sings her own praises.
Patterns
- sing your own praises
- be always singing your own praises
- not be one to sing your own praises
He's not the kind of person who sings his own praises, so you have to ask him directly about his success.
If you want a promotion, you may need to sing your own praises a little more in meetings.
She never sings her own praises, but everyone knows how much work she did on the project.
phraseidiominformaldisapproving
to boast about yourself in a way that annoys others
Grammar: Often used in the progressive to suggest a habit: He's always singing his own praises.
Patterns
- be always singing your own praises
- stop singing your own praises
He spent the whole dinner singing his own praises, and nobody could get a word in.
Stop singing your own praises and let someone else talk about their work for a change.
Common combinations
- sing your own praises
- She doesn't like to sing her own praises, even when she deserves credit.
- be always singing your own praises
- He's always singing his own praises, which gets tiresome.
- not be one to sing your own praises
- I'm not one to sing my own praises, but I think I handled that well.
- sing the praises of someone
- The critics sang the praises of the young pianist.
Synonyms and how they differ
- boast
- Boast is a direct verb meaning to talk with too much pride; it can be used with or without an object, while sing your own praises is a fixed idiom.
- brag
- Brag is more informal and often suggests annoying or repeated boasting; sing your own praises can be used more neutrally, especially in the negative.
- blow your own trumpet
- This is the British equivalent and is equally informal; American speakers usually say blow your own horn.
Opposites
Commonly confused: sing your own praises or sing the praises of someone?
sing your own praises vs sing the praises of someone
This means to praise another person enthusiastically, not yourself. Sing your own praises is about self-praise.
Practice
Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Choose one answer.
The idiom is 'sing your own praises' with a possessive adjective before 'own'. Option 1 wrongly adds 'of his colleagues', which changes the meaning. Option 2 is not the fixed form; you would say 'sing the praises of his colleagues' for other people. Option 3 has incorrect word order.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sing your own praises”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.