shoot oneself in the foot
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.50 in modern English
33
Scrabble Score
21
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To act against one's own interests; to unintentionally behave self-destructively.
Example Sentences
- "but as President he frequently shoots himself in the foot. Some of his erroneous public statements are dillies."
- "The countries that stopped shooting themselves in the foot were able to break into new export markets"
- ""I've always been the guy who shoots himself in the foot and squanders every opportunity," he says. "Now it's like, 'Do I throw it all away — or just try?'""
- "The fear is that the economic aftermath of this crisis, like the virus itself, might be toughest on those with pre-existing conditions – including otherwise thriving western countries choosing this moment in history to shoot themselves in the foot."
- "Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor who is of counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy, told the Guardian that Trump "may have shot himself in the foot" with the comments. "Criminal intent can be hard to prove, but when a potential defendant says something easily seen as intimidating or threatening to those investigating the case it becomes easier," Aftergut said."