"be one's own worst enemy" meaning in English

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb",
        "3": "irregular; see conjugation of \"be\""
      },
      "expansion": "be one's own worst enemy (irregular; see conjugation of \"be\")",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1870, Mary Dwinell Chellis, Mark Dunning's Enemy, page 27",
          "text": "“Mark is his own worst enemy. Good night.” True. No enemy however powerful and malicious, can so work a man's ruin as his own unbridled passions and depraved appetites.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1881 [1589], Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, translated by Charles Thornton Forster and F.H. Blackburne Daniell, The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, translation of Legationis Turcicae epistolae quatuor (in Latin), page 221",
          "text": "For each man is his own worst enemy, and has no foe more deadly than his own intemperance, which is sure to kill him, if the enemy be not quick.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 April 20, Phil McNulty, “Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "Pochettino set his team up ideally to keep City at bay but once again, as they did in that Carabao Cup final loss to Liverpool, Chelsea were their own worst enemies as they squandered opportunities to banish memories of that reverse.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To cause problems for one's self, act contrary to one's own interest, self-sabotage."
      ],
      "id": "en-be_one's_own_worst_enemy-en-verb-TQkf~F8z",
      "links": [
        [
          "problem",
          "problem"
        ],
        [
          "interest",
          "interest"
        ],
        [
          "self-sabotage",
          "self-sabotage"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To cause problems for one's self, act contrary to one's own interest, self-sabotage."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "olla itsensä pahin vihollinen"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-be one's own worst enemy.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/35/En-au-be_one%27s_own_worst_enemy.ogg/En-au-be_one%27s_own_worst_enemy.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/En-au-be_one%27s_own_worst_enemy.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "be one's own worst enemy"
}

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb",
        "3": "irregular; see conjugation of \"be\""
      },
      "expansion": "be one's own worst enemy (irregular; see conjugation of \"be\")",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1870, Mary Dwinell Chellis, Mark Dunning's Enemy, page 27",
          "text": "“Mark is his own worst enemy. Good night.” True. No enemy however powerful and malicious, can so work a man's ruin as his own unbridled passions and depraved appetites.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1881 [1589], Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, translated by Charles Thornton Forster and F.H. Blackburne Daniell, The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, translation of Legationis Turcicae epistolae quatuor (in Latin), page 221",
          "text": "For each man is his own worst enemy, and has no foe more deadly than his own intemperance, which is sure to kill him, if the enemy be not quick.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 April 20, Phil McNulty, “Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "Pochettino set his team up ideally to keep City at bay but once again, as they did in that Carabao Cup final loss to Liverpool, Chelsea were their own worst enemies as they squandered opportunities to banish memories of that reverse.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To cause problems for one's self, act contrary to one's own interest, self-sabotage."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "problem",
          "problem"
        ],
        [
          "interest",
          "interest"
        ],
        [
          "self-sabotage",
          "self-sabotage"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To cause problems for one's self, act contrary to one's own interest, self-sabotage."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-be one's own worst enemy.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/35/En-au-be_one%27s_own_worst_enemy.ogg/En-au-be_one%27s_own_worst_enemy.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/En-au-be_one%27s_own_worst_enemy.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "olla itsensä pahin vihollinen"
    }
  ],
  "word": "be one's own worst enemy"
}

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1698",
  "msg": "unrecognized head form: irregular; see conjugation of \"be\"",
  "path": [
    "be one's own worst enemy"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "verb",
  "title": "be one's own worst enemy",
  "trace": ""
}