spare someone's feelings
idiom
: to avoid doing or saying something that will hurt someone emotionally : to avoid upsetting someone
He admitted that he hadn't told me the whole story because he wanted to spare my feelings.
We pretended to like his artwork in order to spare his feelings.
Cite this Entry
“Spare someone's feelings.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spare%20someone%27s%20feelings. Accessed 27 Nov. 2025.
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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