foot-in-mouth disease

US/ˈfʊɾ.ɪnˌmaʊθ dəzˈiz/US/- dɪzˈiz/US[ˈɸʊɾ-]

noun

A tendency to make remarks that are embarrassingly wrong or inappropriate.

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Meanings

nounfoot-in-mouth disease (uncountable)
  1. humorousidiomaticuncountableA tendency to make remarks that are embarrassingly wrong or inappropriate.

    They attempt to straddle all issues and, consequently, when a slip occurs, the result is foot-in-mouth disease.

    2000, Marvin Rubinstein, Net-wit.com
    1 more example

    Maybe you suffer from foot-in-mouth disease, too, at least occasionally. If so, then I expect you've also learned about the remedy.

    2004, Craig Jutila, 2-Minute Encouragers for Teachers, page 48

Origin

Humorous conflation of foot-and-mouth disease and put one's foot in one's mouth.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 口不擇言 /口不择言
  • 口不擇言 /口不择言 (kǒubúzéyán)tendency
Finnish tapa möläyttää
  • tapa möläyttäätendency
German but see von einem Fettnäpfchen ins Nächste treten
  • but see von einem Fettnäpfchen ins Nächste tretentendency
Cite this entry
APA

foot-in-mouth disease. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foot-in-mouth%20disease

MLA

“foot-in-mouth disease.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foot-in-mouth%20disease. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “foot-in-mouth disease,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foot-in-mouth%20disease.

Source: foot-in-mouth disease on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.