shoot oneself in the foot
Unintentional self-harm
To shoot oneself in the foot is to sabotage your own efforts through carelessness or poor judgment.
The image is of accidentally wounding yourself with your own weapon: The company shot itself in the foot by laying off its best engineers.
The phrase emphasizes that the damage was self-inflicted and avoidable.
- own goalScoring against your side
- hoist by one's own petardHarmed by own plot
- mishapMinor unfortunate occurrence
- self-destructiveHarmful to oneself
- drop the ballFail at a critical moment
step on a rake · misstep · botch · blunder · bungling · backfire · misjudgment · unintended consequences · self-sabotage · error · slip-up · epic fail · miscalculation · oversight · regret · impulsivity · recklessness · lapse
shoot oneself in the footplay one's cards right
Act strategically for advantage
help oneself · look out for number one · feather one's nest · self-advancement · self-preservation
shoot oneself in the foothit the mark
Achieve intended result
nail it · ace it · fire on all cylinders · knock it out of the park · deliver the goods
shoot oneself in the footthink ahead
Plan for future events
cover one's bases · hedge one's bets · pick one's battles · know which side one's bread is buttered on · have one's wits about one