bruise sb's ego
If an experience bruises your ego, it upsets you because it makes you feel less valuable or important:
I don't think it broke Steve's heart when Cherise left him, but it certainly bruised his ego.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Humiliating and degrading
- abase
- be under a cloud idiom
- bring/take sb down a peg (or two) idiom
- bruise
- compromise
- cut sb down to size idiom
- deflate
- degradation
- degrade
- doghouse
- exhibition
- fall from grace idiom
- forget
- grubby
- indignity
- knock
- knock sb off their pedestal idiom 1
- knock sb off their pedestal
- lower your sights idiom
- peg
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