add insult to injury

1. 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.

Example Sentences

She said: "It's hard enough for people in the creative industry to sustain careers, but to be competing with a robotic version of yourself adds insult to injury."

From BBC

"At a time of widespread political disillusionment, her actions were staggeringly irresponsible and only added insult to injury after years of delay for renters' rights reform under the Conservatives."

From BBC

To add insult to injury, the cost of the special election to ratify the scheme is estimated to be about $60 million in Los Angeles County alone, with statewide costs likely exceeding $200 million.

From Los Angeles Times

Ms McKenzie said the carnival being at risk "adds insult to injury" for victims of the Windrush scandal, in which thousands of British people, mainly of Caribbean origin, were wrongly classed as illegal immigrants.

From BBC

Ms Potter added: "It's hard enough for people in the creative industry to sustain careers but to be competing with a robotic version of yourself just adds insult to injury."

From BBC