Face the music means to accept criticism or punishment for something you have done wrong. The idea is that the person made a mistake or behaved badly and now has to deal with punishment, criticism or an unpleasant conversation. The idiom is informal; in an essay, people usually replace it with accept the consequences.
When would you say face the music?
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face the music (for + noun/-ing); have to / time to face the music
- I missed three deadlines this month, so tomorrow I'll have to face the music.
- He spent their holiday savings on a new car, and now he has to face the music at home.
- Students who cheat in exams usually face the music sooner or later.
What changed
First versionSooner or later you will have to face with the music.
RevisionSooner or later you will have to face the music.
Phrases like deal with or cope with may suggest adding with, but the verb face takes its object directly: face the problem, face the music. With only appears in the form be faced with. The extra preposition was removed.
Bite the bullet means making yourself do something unpleasant because there is no other way: I bit the bullet and booked the dentist. Face the music means answering for your own wrongdoing: He lied, and now he has to face the music.
Your turn
Tom broke his neighbour's window with a football, so he knocked on her door to ___ and offer to pay for it.
Show the answer
face the music — Tom broke the window himself and went to admit it and offer to pay, so he was accepting the consequences: face the music. Play it by ear means deciding what to do as things happen, without a plan, and it doesn't fit owning up to a mistake.
Remember a mistake you had to answer for at work, at school or at home. Write what you did and how you explained it.
When I forgot to send the invoices, I faced the music and explained to my manager that I had misread the schedule.
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