own worst enemy
14
6.3
- idiom
:
peor enemigo de uno mismo
- In pursuing her goals, she realized that she was her own worst enemy due to her negative thoughts.
- become your own worst enemy
Who, you know, is his own worst enemy and doesn't win those arguments.
- Who, you know, is his own worst enemy and doesn't win those arguments.
- It means that John Nash is his own worst enemy.
- And This is why the gift is the curse, right, 'cause my own worst enemy will always be me.
- Goalkeepers, they showed, are often their own worst enemies.
- And I can tell you that day I was my own worst enemy.
- And and tearing yourself down because as actors, I think we are our own worst enemy.
- Just last year, as you remember, we we went to Beijing and Joe and I said you guys are your own worst enemies.
- You can't help the boys when you you're own worst enemy.
Examples
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Trouble with me is, I'm my own worst enemy.
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As the respected energy consultant Mehdi Varzi notes, "Iran is its own worst enemy."
Academic text (2007) -
And I know that I remain my own worst enemy.
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We are our own worst enemy.
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Do you know that right now, - you are your own worst enemy?
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But when it comes to love, we often turn out to be our own worst enemy.
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The time has come for us to work together and stop being our own worst enemies.
Academic text (2004) -
You're your own worst enemy, you know that.
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Sometimes we are our own worst enemy when it comes to making our dreams come true.
Blog text (34) -
South Africans of all races are still their own worst enemies in terms of recognizing their global importance.
Academic text (2007)
Synonyms
Antonyms
How Self-Sabotaging
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the parts: 'own' (self), 'worst' (most severe), and 'enemy' (adversary) combine to mean someone who is their own greatest adversary. This compositional logic is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'mi peor enemigo') and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Own worst enemy uses a strong image: your own actions act like an enemy against you, as if you were fighting yourself. So, it means 'someone who causes their own problems or stops their own success'.