add insult to injury

Meaning

Verb

• To further a loss with mockery or indignity; to worsen an unfavourable situation.

Origin

• Derived from the fables of Phaedrus in the first century . The story was of a bald man who swats at a fly which has just landed on his head, but instead hits himself on the head. The fly comments, "You wished to kill me for a touch. What will you do to yourself since you have added insult to injury?" The actual wording appears in English from the middle of the 18th century.