insult

To exacerbate an already problematic situation in a way that is humiliating; to make someone who has just experienced injury or defeat feel worse about the situation with one's words. A: "Well, it's not like you were having a great season before you broke your leg." B: "Thanks for adding insult to injury." I was already late for work and, to add insult to injury, I spilled coffee all over myself.

Fig. Cliché to make a bad situation worse; to hurt the feelings of a person who has already been hurt. First, the basement flooded, and then, to add insult to injury, a pipe burst in the kitchen. My car barely started this morning, and to add insult to injury, I got a flat tire in the driveway.

Fig. to direct insults at someone; to say something insulting directly to someone. Anne hurled an insult at Bob that made him very angry. If you two would stop throwing insults, we could have a serious discussion.

(at someone) Go to hurl insults (at someone).

to take turns with someone in mutual insulting. We traded insults with each other for a while and then settled down to some serious discussions of our differences.

to make a bad situation worse The airline charged me extra for checking in a bike and then added insult to injury by charging me for a box to pack it in.

to make a bad situation even worse for someone by doing something else to upset them First of all he arrived an hour late and then, to add insult to injury, he proceeded to complain about my choice of restaurant.

Hurt a person's feelings after doing him or her harm; also, make a bad situation worse. For example, Not only did the club refuse him, but it published a list of the rejected applicants-that's adding insult to injury , or The nearest parking space was half a mile away, and then, to add insult to injury, it began to pour : The phrase is an ancient one, even older than its often cited use in the Roman writer Phaedrus's fable of the bald man and the fly. A fly bit the head of a bald man, who, trying to crush it, gave himself a heavy blow. The fly then jeered, "You want to avenge an insect's sting with death; what will you do to yourself, who have added insult to injury?" In English it was first recorded in 1748.