papelón
spectacle
Reviewed by: David WestfallCofounder
A big, embarassing scene / spectacle
Encoding Strategies:
linguistic
Papelón is literally a big theatrical role0, but colloquially refers to someone making a big scene of themselves - an embarassing spectacle.
papelón
spectacle, embarrassing scene, blunder (colloquial)
When someone makes a spectacle of themselves and everyone is watching. The bigger the stage, the bigger the embarrassment.
El ministro hizo un papelón en la conferencia de prensaThe minister made a spectacle of himself at the press conference
Me olvidé el discurso entero — ¡qué papelón!I forgot the entire speech — what an embarrassing blunder!
show-off, braggart (colloquial)
Describes someone who puts on an exaggerated performance of self-importance. They think they're the star of the show.
No le hagas caso, es un papelón que siempre exagera sus logrosDon't pay attention to him, he's a show-off who always exaggerates his achievements
big role (theater / film)
A large, important role in a play or film.
Si consigues ese papelón en la obra, por fin te harás famosoIf you land that big part in the play, you'll finally be famous
papelón
sugarloaf
A block of raw sugar
Encoding Strategies:
linguistic
visual
Papelón is literally thick paper0, but regionally refers to a block of unrefined raw sugar, which resembles the wrapped paper.
papelón
sugarloaf, raw sugar block (Dominican Republic / Venezuela)
When raw sugarcane juice is boiled down and poured into molds, it solidifies into a dense block of unrefined brown sugar. This brownish block resembles the papelón that colonial merchants used to roll to package loose goods.
En Venezuela se usa papelón rallado para endulzar el caféIn Venezuela, grated raw sugar is used to sweeten coffee