Add insult to injury
Hurt a person’s feelings after doing him or her harm; also, make a bad situation worse. For example, Not only did the club refuse him, but it published a list of the rejected applicants—that’s adding insult to injury, or The nearest parking space was half a mile away, and then, to add insult to injury, it began to pour: The phrase is an ancient one, even older than its often cited use in the Roman writer Phaedrus’s fable of the bald man and the fly. A fly bit the head of a bald man, who, trying to crush it, gave himself a heavy blow. The fly then jeered, “You want to avenge an insect’s sting with death; what will you do to yourself, who have added insult to injury?” In English it was first recorded in 1748.
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a device or unit added to equipment or a construction: an add-on to a computer; a nice add-on to an old house. an extra charge: Add-ons for taxes and tour guide fees boosted the price of the vacation to $2,500. an additional item, as a rider or provision: This is just another legislative add-on. anything […]
- Add one's two cents in
add one’s two cents in Related Terms put one’s two cents in verb phrase To volunteer one’s advice, esp when it is not solicited; kibitz: If I may put my two cents in, I think we should shut up (1930s+)
- Address
a speech or written statement, usually formal, directed to a particular group of persons: the president’s address on the state of the economy. a direction as to the intended recipient, written on or attached to a piece of mail. the place or the name of the place where a person, organization, or the like is […]
- Put one's two cents in
put one’s two cents in verb phrase To volunteer one’s advice, esp when it is not solicited; kibitz: If I may put my two cents in, I think we should shut up (1930s+)
- Add up to
to unite or join so as to increase the number, quantity, size, or importance: to add two cups of sugar; to add a postscript to her letter; to add insult to injury. to find the sum of (often followed by up): Add this column of figures. Add up the grocery bills. to say or write […]