To disclose or show what one is in reality, to reveal your true nature

Etymology:

  • It has been prevalent since many centuries those ships had different colorful flags as a sign of their identity. But it so happened sometimes that a ship could fly a false or fake flag to fool its enemy. This thing was expressed as sailing “under false colors”. If the deceitful ship came into view by flying its real flags it meant it “showed its true colors”. Similarly the idea can be referred to the people who show their true colors by revealing showing their real character or nature.
53 Views

I really considered John as my good friend but he really showed his true colors when he cheated me in the deal.

Submitted on February 25, 2019

Translation

Find a translation for the Show Your True Colors phrase in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to Show Your True Colors

How to pronounce this phrase?

Discuss this Show Your True Colors phrase with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this Show Your True Colors definition to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Show Your True Colors." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/show-your-true-colors_45021>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest human-edited phrases collection on the web!

    Quiz

    Are you a phrases master?

    »
    Serves them __________ for sneaking off like that.
    A right
    B best
    C up
    D wrong