Let’s learn eight idioms for unintended consequences in English.
1.) to burn one’s bridges
Meaning: to take an action that makes it impossible to return to an earlier path, relationship, or situation
Example: It is unwise to speak badly of your boss, even after you quit a job. Don’t burn your bridges.
2.) to miss the forest for the trees
Meaning: to focus so closely on details that one doesn’t see the larger situation
Example: It’s inefficient to focus on the bad actions of individual companies that pollute the environment instead of looking at how weak policies and laws incentivize these behaviours in general. We are missing the forest for the trees.
3.) to go down the wrong path
Meaning: to continue a behaviour or course of action that will end in failure or disappointment
Example: You shouldn’t quit school. I think you are going down the wrong path.
4.) to cut off your nose to spite your face
Meaning: to attempt to hurt another person in a way that ultimately only hurts yourself.
Example: Mary was so angry that she wasn’t asked to be a maid of honor that she refused to attend the wedding at all. It was silly of her. She cut off her nose to spite her face.
5.) to be a glutton for punishment
Meaning: to continue to engage in behaviours with unpleasant consequences / to be a masochist
Example: I don’t know why I keep attending Tom’s parties. They are always so boring. I must be a glutton for punishment.
6.) to bury your head in the sand
Meaning: to try to avoid a situation or fact by ignoring it or pretending it doesn’t exist
Example: Mary’s friends are worried about her and keep telling her that her husband is abusive. Mary doesn’t see it. She just buries her head in the sand and puts up with it.
7.) to be penny wise and pound foolish
Meaning: to save money in small ways that ultimately result in having to spend even more
Example: You should have travel insurance. If you have an accident, it could bankrupt you. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.
8.) to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire
Meaning: to go from a bad situation to a worse one
Example: We moved to get away from the noise, but our new neighbourhood is even louder. We jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Try the quiz!
Speaking and Conversation
Invent a scenario for each idiom.
Want more idioms like this? Check out 40 Idioms on Bad or Wrong Decisions in English by Awal English.
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