"put lipstick on a pig" meaning in English

See put lipstick on a pig in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-put lipstick on a pig.ogg Forms: puts lipstick on a pig [present, singular, third-person], putting lipstick on a pig [participle, present], put lipstick on a pig [participle, past], put lipstick on a pig [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|put<,,put> lipstick on a pig}} put lipstick on a pig (third-person singular simple present puts lipstick on a pig, present participle putting lipstick on a pig, simple past and past participle put lipstick on a pig)
  1. (idiomatic) To superficially alter something in the hope of making it seem more appealing than it is in actuality. Wikipedia link: Lipstick on a pig Tags: idiomatic Related terms: mutton dressed as lamb, old wine in a new bottle, you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear, you can't polish a turd, gild the pill, cast pearls before swine Translations (to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear): kaunistella (Finnish), laittaa huulipunaa possulle (Finnish), נזם זהב באף חזיר (Hebrew), czynić coś brzydkiego pozornie pięknym [imperfective] (Polish), uczynić coś brzydkiego pozornie pięknym [perfective] (Polish), sminka en gris (Swedish)

Inflected forms

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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "puts lipstick on a pig",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "putting lipstick on a pig",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put lipstick on a pig",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put lipstick on a pig",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "put<,,put> lipstick on a pig"
      },
      "expansion": "put lipstick on a pig (third-person singular simple present puts lipstick on a pig, present participle putting lipstick on a pig, simple past and past participle put lipstick on a pig)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w"
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          "source": "w"
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hebrew translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "That new box is like putting lipstick on a pig. It's still the same buggy program inside.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1987, Warner Fusselle, Baseball...a Laughing Matter!, page 183:",
          "text": "Fran Healy, Mets announcer and former Giants catcher (about the possibility of putting a dome on Candlestick): \"It would be like putting lipstick on a pig.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To superficially alter something in the hope of making it seem more appealing than it is in actuality."
      ],
      "id": "en-put_lipstick_on_a_pig-en-verb-PzfX4eCS",
      "links": [
        [
          "superficially",
          "superficially"
        ],
        [
          "alter",
          "alter"
        ],
        [
          "appealing",
          "appealing"
        ],
        [
          "actuality",
          "actuality"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To superficially alter something in the hope of making it seem more appealing than it is in actuality."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "mutton dressed as lamb"
        },
        {
          "word": "old wine in a new bottle"
        },
        {
          "word": "you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear"
        },
        {
          "word": "you can't polish a turd"
        },
        {
          "word": "gild the pill"
        },
        {
          "word": "cast pearls before swine"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
          "word": "kaunistella"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
          "word": "laittaa huulipunaa possulle"
        },
        {
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
          "word": "נזם זהב באף חזיר"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "czynić coś brzydkiego pozornie pięknym"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "uczynić coś brzydkiego pozornie pięknym"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
          "word": "sminka en gris"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Lipstick on a pig"
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "audio": "En-au-put lipstick on a pig.ogg",
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  "word": "put lipstick on a pig"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "puts lipstick on a pig",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "putting lipstick on a pig",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put lipstick on a pig",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put lipstick on a pig",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "put<,,put> lipstick on a pig"
      },
      "expansion": "put lipstick on a pig (third-person singular simple present puts lipstick on a pig, present participle putting lipstick on a pig, simple past and past participle put lipstick on a pig)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "mutton dressed as lamb"
    },
    {
      "word": "old wine in a new bottle"
    },
    {
      "word": "you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear"
    },
    {
      "word": "you can't polish a turd"
    },
    {
      "word": "gild the pill"
    },
    {
      "word": "cast pearls before swine"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Hebrew translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "That new box is like putting lipstick on a pig. It's still the same buggy program inside.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1987, Warner Fusselle, Baseball...a Laughing Matter!, page 183:",
          "text": "Fran Healy, Mets announcer and former Giants catcher (about the possibility of putting a dome on Candlestick): \"It would be like putting lipstick on a pig.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To superficially alter something in the hope of making it seem more appealing than it is in actuality."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "superficially",
          "superficially"
        ],
        [
          "alter",
          "alter"
        ],
        [
          "appealing",
          "appealing"
        ],
        [
          "actuality",
          "actuality"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To superficially alter something in the hope of making it seem more appealing than it is in actuality."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Lipstick on a pig"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-au-put lipstick on a pig.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/En-au-put_lipstick_on_a_pig.ogg"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
      "word": "kaunistella"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
      "word": "laittaa huulipunaa possulle"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
      "word": "נזם זהב באף חזיר"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "czynić coś brzydkiego pozornie pięknym"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "uczynić coś brzydkiego pozornie pięknym"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to superficially alter something — see also you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear",
      "word": "sminka en gris"
    }
  ],
  "word": "put lipstick on a pig"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.