汚名挽回
おめいばんかい
noun
redeeming one's reputation; clearing one's name
Conjugation
| Affirmative | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | 汚名挽回する | 汚名挽回しない |
| Present polite | 汚名挽回します | 汚名挽回しません |
| Past | 汚名挽回した | 汚名挽回しなかった |
| Past polite | 汚名挽回しました | 汚名挽回しませんでした |
| て form | 汚名挽回して | 汚名挽回しなくて |
| ている present | 汚名挽回している | 汚名挽回していない |
| ている polite | 汚名挽回しています | 汚名挽回していません |
| ている past | 汚名挽回していた | 汚名挽回していなかった |
| ている past polite | 汚名挽回していました | 汚名挽回していませんでした |
| Conditional ば | 汚名挽回すれば | 汚名挽回しなければ |
| Conditional たら | 汚名挽回したら | 汚名挽回しなかったら |
| Volitional | 汚名挽回しよう | — |
| Volitional polite | 汚名挽回しましょう | — |
| Potential | 汚名挽回できる | 汚名挽回できない |
| Passive | 汚名挽回される | 汚名挽回されない |
| Causative | 汚名挽回させる | 汚名挽回させない |
| Imperative | 汚名挽回しろ | 汚名挽回するな |
1.
redeeming one's reputation; clearing one's name; restoring one's honor
Recovering from a damaged reputation through subsequent good performance or actions. Despite being technically a misuse of 挽回 (which means to recover something good), this phrase is widely used and accepted in modern Japanese.
今度こそ汚名挽回したい。
This time, I want to redeem my reputation.
前回の失敗の汚名挽回のために、彼は必死に練習した。
He practiced desperately to redeem himself after his previous failure.
チームは連敗で評判を落としたが、決勝戦での勝利で見事に汚名挽回を果たした。
The team's reputation suffered from a losing streak, but they brilliantly redeemed themselves with a victory in the final.
Composed of 汚名 (bad reputation, dishonor) and 挽回 (recovery, retrieval). This phrase is famously debated among language purists: strictly speaking, 挽回 means "to recover" something lost, so 汚名挽回 could be misread as "recovering one's bad reputation" (the opposite of the intended meaning). The prescriptively correct form is 汚名返上 (casting off one's bad name) or 名誉挽回 (recovering one's honor). However, 汚名挽回 is so widely used that most dictionaries now accept it.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 汚名挽回する: to redeem one's reputation
- 汚名挽回を果たす: to accomplish redemption of one's name
- 汚名挽回の機会: a chance to redeem oneself
- 汚名挽回を目指す: to aim to restore one's reputation
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 汚名返上: clearing one's name — prescriptively the "correct" form; means to cast off a bad reputation
- 名誉挽回: recovering one's honor — prescriptively correct; recovers the positive thing (honor) rather than the negative (disgrace)
- 雪辱: avenging a defeat, vindication — focuses on overcoming a specific past loss or humiliation
- 起死回生: turning the tables, a dramatic comeback — a more dramatic four-character compound for making a stunning recovery