flop sweat
noun
: nervous sweat (as of a performer) caused especially by the fear of failing
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Not the brilliant but marginalized borderline personality so popular in today’s television, but the real deal, a creature held together by flop sweat, desperate cunning and doggedly delusional ambition. 
Ed Stockly, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2022 In the lead-up to Sunday’s 94th Oscars ceremony on ABC, there’s been all kinds of panicked flop sweat about dwindling audience numbers and reversing the trend. Chicago Tribune Staff, chicagotribune.com, 25 Mar. 2022 Drenched with flop sweat, a despondent Cruz left the Senate and immediately started packing his rolling bag for Cancun, hoping that a few days on the beach in Mexico would leave him refreshed and ready to pursue a new line of attack against Jackson. Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker, 23 Mar. 2022 Will these steps liven up the show, or give it an aura of flop sweat? oregonlive, 8 Mar. 2022 There was a hint of flop sweat coming from Zuckerberg Monday during an earnings call with investors, but not because of all the recent bad publicity. Joel Mathis, The Week, 26 Oct. 2021 Continuing, Griffin says her withdrawal symptoms included tremors and flop sweat. Dory Jackson, PEOPLE.com, 2 Aug. 2021 Instead, Henry's act begins to curdle, his Midas touch dissipating in a spray of rage and flop sweat, and soon his devotion to his lover begins to falter too. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 6 July 2021 The try-outs are an unusually public form of auditioning, one that could cause flop sweat even for veteran emcees. BostonGlobe.com, 10 June 2021 See More
Ed Stockly, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2022 In the lead-up to Sunday’s 94th Oscars ceremony on ABC, there’s been all kinds of panicked flop sweat about dwindling audience numbers and reversing the trend. Chicago Tribune Staff, chicagotribune.com, 25 Mar. 2022 Drenched with flop sweat, a despondent Cruz left the Senate and immediately started packing his rolling bag for Cancun, hoping that a few days on the beach in Mexico would leave him refreshed and ready to pursue a new line of attack against Jackson. Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker, 23 Mar. 2022 Will these steps liven up the show, or give it an aura of flop sweat? oregonlive, 8 Mar. 2022 There was a hint of flop sweat coming from Zuckerberg Monday during an earnings call with investors, but not because of all the recent bad publicity. Joel Mathis, The Week, 26 Oct. 2021 Continuing, Griffin says her withdrawal symptoms included tremors and flop sweat. Dory Jackson, PEOPLE.com, 2 Aug. 2021 Instead, Henry's act begins to curdle, his Midas touch dissipating in a spray of rage and flop sweat, and soon his devotion to his lover begins to falter too. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 6 July 2021 The try-outs are an unusually public form of auditioning, one that could cause flop sweat even for veteran emcees. BostonGlobe.com, 10 June 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
1947, in the meaning defined above