Meaning & use
your own worst enemy
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiom
Someone who causes their own problems more than other people do.
Grammar: The possessive changes with the person: my/his/her/their own worst enemy.
Patterns
- be your own worst enemy
- somebody is their own worst enemy
She's talented, but she's her own worst enemy — she never finishes anything.
If you keep doubting yourself, you'll be your own worst enemy.
He lost the job because he was his own worst enemy and argued with everyone.
Common combinations
- be your own worst enemy
- With that attitude, you'll be your own worst enemy.
- his own worst enemy
- The team was its own worst enemy, giving away two goals.
- make yourself your own worst enemy
- By putting things off, she made herself her own worst enemy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shoot yourself in the foot
- An informal idiom for a single act that harms your own interests, while 'your own worst enemy' describes a lasting pattern.
- self-destructive
- An adjective describing behavior that harms yourself; it focuses on the behavior, not on being an opponent to yourself.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: your own worst enemy or worst enemy?
your own worst enemy vs worst enemy
Without 'own', it can simply mean the most dangerous enemy you have, not yourself.
Practice
Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Choose one answer.
The fixed idiom is 'be your/his/her own worst enemy', using the superlative 'worst'. 'Worse' is the comparative and does not fit this fixed phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “your own worst enemy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.