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add insult to injury. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
add insult to injury, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
add insult to injury in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
add insult to injury you have here. The definition of the word
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add insult to injury, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Derived from the fables of Phaedrus in the first century C.E.. The story was of a bald man who swats at a fly which has just landed on his head, but instead hits himself on the head. The fly comments, "You wished to kill me for a touch. What will you do to yourself since you have added insult to injury?" The actual wording appears in English from the middle of the 18th century.
This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. This seems to be a calque. What is the original?
Pronunciation
Verb
add insult to injury (third-person singular simple present adds insult to injury, present participle adding insult to injury, simple past and past participle added insult to injury)
- (idiomatic) To further a loss with mockery or indignity; to worsen an already unfavourable situation.
As if the hostile takeover weren't enough, to add insult to injury they scrapped ninety percent of our products and replaced them with their own.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 52:[...] the line crossed over an iron bridge spanning Ludgate Hill itself [...] neatly obliterating any view of St Paul's from Ludgate Circus and Fleet Street. A thousand people had put their names to a petition against the bridge. To add insult to injury it carried a small thicket of railway signals as well as regular steam trains.
Usage notes
Synonyms
See Thesaurus:make matters worse
Derived terms
Translations
to further a loss with mockery or indignity
- Arabic: زَادَ الطِّينَ بِلَّةً (zāda ṭ-ṭīna billatan)
- Bengali: কাটা ঘায়ে নুনের ছিটে (kaṭa ghaẏe nuner chiṭe)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 雪上加霜 (zh) (xuě shàng jiā shuāng)
- Danish: føje spot til skade
- Finnish: pahentaa asiaa entisestään
- French: ajouter l’injure à l’insulte, pour couronner le tout (fr), comme si ça ne suffisait pas
- Galician: aínda por riba, sobre mel filloas
- Georgian: ცეცხლზე ნავთის დასხმა (cecxlze navtis dasxma)
- German: Salz in die Wunde streuen
- Greek: όλα του γάμου δύσκολα κι η νύφη γκαστρωμένη (óla tou gámou dýskola ki i nýfi gkastroméni)
- Hebrew: הוסיף חטא על פשע (literally “add sin to a crime”), הרצחת וגם ירשת (he) (literally “Murder and then inherit?”)
- Icelandic: bæta gráu ofan á svart, gera vont verra, bæta móðgun við meingjörð, blammera
- Irish: cuir an tarcaisne i gceann na héagóra
- Italian: oltre il danno la beffa
- Japanese: 傷口に塩を塗る (kizuguchi-ni shio-o nuru)
- Korean: 설상가상(雪上加霜) (ko) (seolsanggasang), 엎친 데 덮친 격 (eopchin de deopchin gyeok)
- Polish: na domiar złego (pl)
- Portuguese: esfregar sal na ferida (pt)
- Romanian: a răsuci cuțitul în rană
- Russian: сы́пать соль на ра́ну (ru) (sýpatʹ solʹ na ránu)
- Scottish Gaelic: bris mo chlaigeann air thùs, is an sin ciùrr mo chorrag
- Sicilian: nuttata persa e figghia fìmmina
- Spanish: echar leña al fuego
- Swedish: strö salt i såren
- Vietnamese: đổ thêm dầu vào lửa, xát muối vào vết thương
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See also