Idioms are special phrases where the words together have a different meaning than what they say one by one. People use these creative expressions every day to make conversations more colorful and describe tricky situations vividly. In this lesson, you will learn a large group of idioms related to hurting someone, whether through physical pain, harsh words, or emotional distress.
In this lesson, we’ll look at idioms that mean causing pain or distress to others. Let’s get started and explore some of these helpful expressions.
Idioms for Hurting Someone
1. Break someone’s heart
Definition: To cause deep emotional sadness or grief to another person.
Used in a Sentence: Lying to his best friend was enough to break his heart. / Moving away without saying goodbye will break her heart.
Similar Expressions: Crush someone’s spirit / Shatter someone’s feelings
2. Stab in the back
Definition: To betray someone who trusts you completely.
Used in a Sentence: Sharing her secret with the whole school was a real stab in the back. / He felt like his teammate stabbed him in the back during the election.
Similar Expressions: Betray trust / Double cross
3. Add insult to injury
Definition: To make a bad situation or painful event even worse.
Used in a Sentence: Falling off his bike was bad, but losing his phone at the same time added insult to injury. / Getting grounded after already failing the test added insult to injury.
Similar Expressions: Worsen matters / Compound the problem
4. Twist the knife
Definition: To make someone emotional suffering or pain intentionally worse.
Used in a Sentence: Teasing her about losing the match was just twisting the knife. / He kept bringing up her mistake, really twisting the knife.
Similar Expressions: Rub salt in the wound / Deepen the pain
5. Rub salt in the wound
Definition: To make a painful memory or bad situation feel much more painful.
Used in a Sentence: Reminding him of his missed goal just rubbed salt in the wound. / Asking about her lost pet rubbed salt in the wound.
Similar Expressions: Make things worse / Intensify the hurt
6. Hit below the belt
Definition: To say something unfairly cruel or attack someone where they are vulnerable.
Used in a Sentence: Bringing up his family troubles during the argument was hitting below the belt. / Making fun of her height in public was hitting below the belt.
Similar Expressions: Fight dirty / Play unfair
7. Cut to the quick
Definition: To hurt someone deeply and emotionally with harsh words.
Used in a Sentence: Her sharp criticism cut him to the quick. / His mean comment about her artwork cut her to the quick.
Similar Expressions: Sting deeply / Hurt profoundly
8. Tread on someone’s toes
Definition: To upset or offend someone by interfering in their space or business.
Used in a Sentence: Taking over the project without asking really trod on his toes. / She stepped in and trod on her partner’s toes during the presentation.
Similar Expressions: Step on toes / Offend someone
9. Step on someone’s feelings
Definition: To be careless and hurt someone else’s emotions.
Used in a Sentence: He did not mean to step on her feelings with his joke. / Being too blunt can easily step on people’s feelings.
Similar Expressions: Hurt feelings / Offend someone
10. Give someone a hard time
Definition: To make things difficult or unpleasant for someone through constant criticism.
Used in a Sentence: The older kids liked to give the new student a hard time. / Her brother always gave her a hard time about her favorite music.
Similar Expressions: Hassle someone / Bother someone
11. Ride roughshod over someone
Definition: To act without caring about someone else’s feelings or rights.
Used in a Sentence: The captain rode roughshod over the team’s ideas for the game. / She felt like her boss rode roughshod over her opinions.
Similar Expressions: Bulldoze someone / Overwhelm someone
12. Trample on someone’s dreams
Definition: To ruin someone’s hopes or ambitions with careless cruelty.
Used in a Sentence: Laughing at his career choice felt like trampling on his dreams. / A harsh rejection can easily trample on a young writer’s dreams.
Similar Expressions: Crush hopes / Shatter ambitions
13. Pull the rug out from under someone
Definition: To suddenly take away support or cause someone to fail unexpectedly.
Used in a Sentence: Canceling the funding pulled the rug out from under the club. / Changing the rules at the last minute pulled the rug out from under him.
Similar Expressions: Undermine someone / Sabotage plans
14. Knock the wind out of someone
Definition: To shock or upset someone deeply with sudden bad news.
Used in a Sentence: The unexpected news about the move knocked the wind out of her. / Losing the championship game knocked the wind out of the team.
Similar Expressions: Stun someone / Shock deeply
15. Hit a raw nerve
Definition: To mention a sensitive subject that causes immediate pain or anger.
Used in a Sentence: Asking about his failed test hit a raw nerve. / Her comment accidentally hit a raw nerve about his old injury.
Similar Expressions: Touch a sore spot / Trigger sensitivity
16. Touch a sore point
Definition: To bring up a topic that makes someone upset or defensive.
Used in a Sentence: Mentioning the lost game touched a sore point with the coach. / Be careful not to touch a sore point when talking about his hobby.
Similar Expressions: Hit a nerve / Stir up sensitivity
17. Bring someone down
Definition: To make someone feel sad, depressed, or unhappy.
Used in a Sentence: Constant negativity from his peers began to bring him down. / Rainy days always seem to bring her down.
Similar Expressions: Depress someone / Discourage someone
18. Crush someone’s spirit
Definition: To destroy someone’s enthusiasm, confidence, or hope completely.
Used in a Sentence: Constant harsh criticism can quickly crush a child’s spirit. / The strict rules felt designed to crush their creative spirit.
Similar Expressions: Break morale / Demoralize someone
19. Break someone’s spirit
Definition: To take away someone’s will to fight or keep trying.
Used in a Sentence: The difficult training tried to break their spirit, but they pushed through. / Defeat after defeat can break a player’s spirit.
Similar Expressions: Crush spirit / Wear down
20. Shoot someone down in flames
Definition: To completely reject or criticize someone’s idea or proposal harshly.
Used in a Sentence: The teacher shot his project idea down in flames. / She felt hurt when her friends shot her suggestion down in flames.
Similar Expressions: Crush an idea / Dismiss harshly
21. Take the wind out of someone’s sails
Definition: To make someone lose their confidence or enthusiasm suddenly.
Used in a Sentence: Hearing the bad review took the wind out of his sails. / Her harsh remark took the wind right out of my sails.
Similar Expressions: Discourage someone / Deflate confidence
22. Throw someone under the bus
Definition: To sacrifice or betray a friend or ally for personal gain.
Used in a Sentence: He threw his partner under the bus to avoid getting blamed by the teacher. / Throwing colleagues under the bus ruins teamwork.
Similar Expressions: Betray an ally / Sell out
23. Lead someone on
Definition: To deceive someone into hoping for care or romance that will not happen.
Used in a Sentence: Pretending to want to be friends just to borrow notes is leading someone on. / He led her on by promising to go to the dance, then canceled.
Similar Expressions: Deceive someone / False hope
24. Play with someone’s emotions
Definition: To toy with someone’s feelings in a cruel or careless way.
Used in a Sentence: It is wrong to play with someone’s emotions just for fun. / Changing his mind every day was like playing with her emotions.
Similar Expressions: Toy with feelings / Manipulate heart
25. Break someone’s trust
Definition: To do something that ruins the confidence someone placed in you.
Used in a Sentence: Reading her diary broke her trust completely. / Breaking someone’s trust takes a long time to fix.
Similar Expressions: Betray confidence / Violate trust
26. Cause a rift
Definition: To create a serious break or division in a relationship between people.
Used in a Sentence: The argument over money caused a lasting rift in the family. / Spreading rumors can easily cause a rift among friends.
Similar Expressions: Split relationships / Create distance
27. Drive a wedge between people
Definition: To cause a strong disagreement or dislike between friends or family members.
Used in a Sentence: Gossip can quickly drive a wedge between close friends. / His jealous remarks tried to drive a wedge between them.
Similar Expressions: Separate friends / Divide people
28. Rip someone apart
Definition: To criticize someone very fiercely or cause severe emotional distress.
Used in a Sentence: The harsh review ripped the young actor’s confidence apart. / Guilt can truly rip a person apart inside.
Similar Expressions: Tear apart / Devastate emotionally
29. Tear someone to pieces
Definition: To attack someone’s character or work with severe verbal criticism.
Used in a Sentence: The coach tore the team to pieces after their lazy performance. / Critics tore the new movie to pieces in the newspaper.
Similar Expressions: Criticize harshly / Slam someone
30. Slap in the face
Definition: A direct, unexpected insult or a severe sign of disrespect.
Used in a Sentence: Not inviting her to the party after all her help felt like a slap in the face. / Receiving a failing grade after working all night was a real slap in the face.
Similar Expressions: Insult / Disrespect
31. Give someone the cold shoulder
Definition: To intentionally ignore or be unfriendly to someone.
Used in a Sentence: She gave him the cold shoulder after he forgot her birthday. / Giving classmates the cold shoulder is never a kind choice.
Similar Expressions: Freeze out / Ignore purposely
32. Freeze someone out
Definition: To exclude someone from a group or activity unkindly.
Used in a Sentence: The club members tried to freeze out the new applicant. / Leaving her out of the chat was a way to freeze her out.
Similar Expressions: Exclude someone / Shut out
33. Leave someone out in the cold
Definition: To ignore or neglect someone, leaving them feeling unwanted.
Used in a Sentence: Choosing teams without him left him out in the cold. / Do not leave your teammates out in the cold during group work.
Similar Expressions: Exclude / Neglect
34. Break someone’s heart into a million pieces
Definition: To cause catastrophic emotional pain and devastation.
Used in a Sentence: Saying goodbye to his pet broke his heart into a million pieces. / The sudden breakup broke her heart into a million pieces.
Similar Expressions: Devastate someone / Crush completely
35. Pull the rug from under someone’s feet
Definition: To ruin someone’s stability or plans without warning.
Used in a Sentence: Changing the project requirements pulled the rug from under our feet. / Losing his job pulled the rug from under his feet.
Similar Expressions: Disrupt plans / Destabilize
36. Bite someone’s head off
Definition: To reply to someone with sudden, unjustified anger or harshness.
Used in a Sentence: When I asked a simple question, she bit my head off. / There is no need to bite my head off just because you are stressed.
Similar Expressions: Snap at someone / Lash out
37. Jump down someone’s throat
Definition: To scold or criticize someone angrily and instantly.
Used in a Sentence: He jumped down my throat before I could even explain what happened. / She always jumps down people’s throats over minor mistakes.
Similar Expressions: Scold harshly / React angrily
38. Tear a strip off someone
Definition: To scold or reprimand someone very severely.
Used in a Sentence: The manager tore a strip off the employee for being late. / His father tore a strip off him for breaking the window.
Similar Expressions: Reprimand severely / Chew out
39. Chew someone out
Definition: To scold someone angrily for making a mistake.
Used in a Sentence: The coach chewed the players out for not practicing hard enough. / She expected her boss to chew her out, but he stayed calm.
Similar Expressions: Rebuke / Scold angrily
40. Read someone the riot act
Definition: To give someone a stern warning or scolding about their bad behavior.
Used in a Sentence: The principal read the noisy hallway students the riot act. / Mom read us the riot act when we left the kitchen messy.
Similar Expressions: Scold strictly / Warn sternly
41. Put someone down
Definition: To make someone feel small or stupid through mean remarks.
Used in a Sentence: It is never nice to put your classmates down. / Constant teasing and putting others down makes nobody happy.
Similar Expressions: Belittle someone / Degrade
42. Cut someone down to size
Definition: To humble someone who is being too arrogant or boastful.
Used in a Sentence: Losing the chess match cut him down to size quickly. / The teacher’s tough question cut his ego down to size.
Similar Expressions: Humble someone / Burst bubble
43. Burst someone’s bubble
Definition: To destroy someone’s happy illusion or unrealistic expectations.
Used in a Sentence: I hated to burst her bubble, but the trip was canceled. / Telling him the truth about the toy burst his bubble.
Similar Expressions: Disillusion someone / Ruin surprise
44. Pin something on someone
Definition: To unjustly blame someone for a mistake or wrongdoing.
Used in a Sentence tried to pin the broken vase on his little brother. / Do not try to pin your homework failure on me.
Similar Expressions: Blame someone / Accuse falsely
45. Throw someone under the bus figuratively
Definition: To betray a coworker or friend to save yourself from trouble.
Used in a Sentence: He threw his friend under the bus when the teacher asked who made the noise. / Never throw teammates under the bus to look good.
Similar Expressions: Betray someone / Shift blame
46. Stab someone in the back professionally
Definition: To undermine a colleague’s career behind their back.
Used in a Sentence: Taking credit for her report was like stabbing her in the back. / Office politics can lead people to stab others in the back.
Similar Expressions: Betray professionally / Undermine secretly
47. Break someone’s confidence
Definition: To share a secret that someone trusted you to keep safe.
Used in a Sentence: Telling her secret to others broke her confidence completely. / Breaking a friend’s confidence ruins a good friendship.
Similar Expressions: Reveal secret / Breach trust
48. Cause someone grief
Definition: To give someone trouble, worry, or emotional annoyance.
Used in a Sentence: Fixing that old computer bug caused him a lot of grief. / Her mischievous behavior caused her parents much grief.
Similar Expressions: Give trouble / Cause distress
49. Walk all over someone
Definition: To treat someone poorly because they are too kind or passive.
Used in a Sentence: You need to stand up for yourself so people stop walking all over you. / Letting others take your credit means letting them walk all over you.
Similar Expressions: Take advantage / Dominate unfairly
50. Break someone’s stride
Definition: To interrupt someone’s progress or confidence abruptly.
Used in a Sentence: The sudden question did not even break her stride during the speech. / A little criticism won’t break my stride.
Similar Expressions: Interrupt progress / Slow down
Exercise to Practice
- Telling a lie to your best friend is a great way to break someone’s heart.
- Sharing her secret with the whole school is an example of a stab in the back.
- Adding insult to injury means helping someone clean up a messy room.
- Twisting the knife makes a painful emotional situation feel much better.
- Bringing up his past mistake during an argument is hitting below the belt.
- Her harsh and cruel words cut him to the quick.
- Stepping on someone’s feelings means caring deeply about their emotions.
- Giving a new student a hard time makes them feel welcomed and happy.
- Trampling on someone’s dreams ruins their hopes with careless behavior.
- Knocking the wind out of someone means to give them a warm blanket.
- Hitting a raw nerve means mentioning a sensitive topic that upsets someone.
- Giving someone the cold shoulder means ignoring them and acting unfriendly.
- Freezing someone out means inviting them to join every fun group game.
- Putting someone down involves making them feel small through mean remarks.
- Bursting someone’s bubble means destroying a happy illusion with the truth.
Answer Key
- True
- True
- False
- False
- True
- True
- False
- False
- True
- False
- True
- True
- False
- True
- True
Conclusion
Learning idioms about hurting someone helps you understand complex emotional situations described in books, movies, and daily conversations. By recognizing these phrases, you can also be more mindful of your own words and how they affect the people around you.
Try using a few of these expressions when writing stories or talking with friends about characters in movies. Paying attention to emotional phrasing makes your communication much more thoughtful and expressive in real life.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some common idioms for hurting someone?
Common expressions include breaking someone’s heart, stabbing someone in the back, and hitting below the belt. These phrases describe emotional or verbal harm rather than physical injury in everyday conversations.
Why do we use idioms in English?
Idioms make our language more colorful, creative, and interesting than plain words. They allow us to express complicated feelings and situations quickly and vividly.
Are idioms for hurting someone always literal?
No, these phrases are almost never meant to be taken literally. For instance, stabbing someone in the back is an idiom for betrayal, not an actual physical attack.
How can I practice learning these expressions?
You can practice by reading them in context, writing your own example sentences, and matching them in exercises. Using them in daily writing helps lock their meanings into your memory.
Can these idioms be used in formal writing?
Most of these idioms are better suited for casual conversation, storytelling, or creative writing. Formal essays usually require more literal and direct language instead of figurative idioms.
