dig a hole for oneself
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to create a problem or difficult situation for oneself
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
tạo ra vấn đề hoặc tình huống khó khăn cho bản thân
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to excavate a pit
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He dug a hole for himself by lying to his boss
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “dig a hole for oneself” mean?
to create a problem or difficult situation for oneself Literally: to excavate a pit
Is “dig a hole for oneself” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.