To act against one's own interests, e.g., by saying what one is really thinking.

If you anger your boss, you're really just shooting yourself in the foot.

To deliberately sabotage an activity in order to avoid obligation, though it causes personal suffering. Origins in first world war trench warfare.

Translation

Find a translation for the shoot oneself in the foot phrase in other languages:

mitterent ad se in pedes

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to shoot oneself in the foot

Discuss this shoot oneself in the foot phrase with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this shoot oneself in the foot definition to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "shoot oneself in the foot." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/idioms/shoot-oneself-in-the-foot>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest human-edited phrases collection on the web!

    Quiz

    Are you a phrases master?

    »
    When soldiers come home from war, we tie a _____ ribbon 'round the old oak tree.
    A red
    B yellow
    C blue
    D pink

    Browse Phrases.com