1. If you show your face, you go somewhere where people can see you. Louis stayed in his Harlem apartment for three days after his defeat, too ashamed to show his face. If she shows her face again back in Massachusetts she'll find a warrant for her arrest waiting. Note: This expression is often used to talk about people who have done something bad or something that makes them ashamed.

2. If you show your face somewhere, you go there for a short period of time, often because you feel you should. I'll go for half an hour just to show my face, and then come home and go to bed, because I'm exhausted. I felt I ought to show my face at her father's funeral.