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“The Emperor's New Clothes”

Cultural  

  1. A story by Hans Christian Andersen. An emperor hires two tailors who promise to make him a set of remarkable new clothes that will be invisible to anyone who is either incompetent or stupid. When the emperor goes to see his new clothes, he sees nothing at all — for the tailors are swindlers and there aren't any clothes. Afraid of being judged incompetent or stupid, the emperor pretends to be delighted with the new clothes and “wears” them in a grand parade through the town. Everyone else also pretends to see them, until a child yells out, “He hasn't got any clothes on!”

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People who point out the emptiness of the pretensions of powerful people and institutions are often compared to the child who says that the emperor has no clothes.

Example Sentences

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“The Naked King,” Mr. Ratmansky’s 27-minute narrative ballet to Jean Françaix’s little-known 1935 ballet score, is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Like the child hero of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Andy initially refuses to buy into the illusion that the work of a fashion magazine is important enough to justify the absurdity of Miranda’s expectations — that is, until she realizes that her future success depends on accepting her boss’ exacting standards.

From Salon

When the little boy in Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes” blurts out that the emperor is naked, he says what people already knew.

From The Wall Street Journal

I could make a boring reference to the emperor’s new clothes.

From The Wall Street Journal

“I was gonna say it’s like the emperor’s new clothes,” Diaz says with a laugh over coffee in Griffith Park.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.