cut off (one's) nose to spite (one's) face

To seek retribution against someone else in a manner that is ultimately harmful or disadvantageous to oneself. He fired Tom for criticizing his managerial skills, but Tom accounts for nearly 75% of his branch's quarterly sales, so all he's really done is cut off his nose to spite his face. I know you're mad at your parents, but running away is only going to make your own life harder. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Like I'm gonna help him now! Ha! He really cut off his nose to spite his face when he cursed me out in front of everyone last week.

See also: cut, face, nose, off, spite, to

cut off one's nose to spite one's face

Injure oneself out of pique. For example, Staying home because Meg was invited first is cutting off your nose to spite your face . Similar hyperboles appeared in several Latin proverbs; in English the expression was first recorded in 1561.

See also: cut, face, nose, off, spite, to

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cut off (one's) nose to spite (one's) face

To injure oneself in taking revenge against another.

See also: cut, face, nose, off, spite, to

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cut off one's nose to spite one's face, to

To act out of pique in a way that injures oneself more than anyone else. The term appears about 1200 as a Latin proverb recorded by Peter of Blois. It was repeated in the mid-seventeenth century by Gedéon Tallemant des Réaux in recounting the history of France: “Henry IV understood very well that to destroy Paris would be, as they say, to cut off his nose to spite his face.”