eat crow

/ˈiːt kɹˈəʊ/

/ˈiːt kɹˈoʊ/

to eat crow

to admit to being wrong, usually in a humiliating or embarrassing way, and to suffer the consequences of one's mistake

Examples

1. After insisting that he was right, John had to eat crow when the evidence proved him wrong.

2. The politician had to eat crow and retract his statements after they were proven to be false.

3. The author had to eat crow and rewrite their manuscript after receiving harsh criticism from their editor.

4. The scientist had to eat crow and revise their theory after new evidence contradicted their original findings.