save face - to do something so that people will continue to respect you.

They denied that the decision to sack the director was simply a face-saving exercise. (always before noun)

• rattle off something
• rattle someone's cage
• raw deal
• ray of sunshine
• razzle-dazzle
• reach boiling point
• reach for the moon
• reach for the stars
• reach out
• reach out to
• reach out to someone
• reach the end of tether
• reach the end of the line
• reach the end of the road
• reach the end of your tether
• read between the lines
• read cover to cover
• read from cover to cover
• read into
• read into something
• read like a book
• read mind
• Read my lips!
• read someone like a book
• read someone's mind