read the room

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read the room (third-person singular simple present reads the room, present participle reading the room, simple past and past participle read the room)

1. (idiomatic) To understand the emotions and thoughts of the people present, especially to determine the kind of speech or actions that would be appropriate or inappropriate.

   Synonym: read the table

   • 2024 May 9, Emma Roth, quoting Reed Morano, “Apple apologizes for iPad ‘Crush’ ad that ‘missed the mark’”, in The Verge‎^[1]:

     The ad rubbed some creatives the wrong way. Hugh Grant called it a “destruction of human experience,” while Handmaid’s Tale director Reed Morano told Apple CEO Tim Cook to “read the room” in a post on X.

   • 2024 May 21, Arwa Mahdawi, “Sex-positive feminism had its moment – and now it has been replaced by voluntary celibacy”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Long story short: Bumble did not read the room.

   • 2025 July 25, Jia Lynn Yang, quoting Roseanne Barr, “The Conservative Crusade That’s About So Much More Than Epstein”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     “Mr. President- Yes, we still care about Epstein,” the actress Roseanne Barr recently posted on X […] . “Is there a time to not care about child sex trafficking? Read the damn room.”