1. to injure yourself out of anger toward another; to make a situation worse for yourself when angry with someone

1. You can refuse to talk to her if you like, but you're just cutting off your nose to spite your face.

2. Sally was offended when she did not immediately receive an invitation to the party. When she got hers the next week, she refused to attend even though she really wanted to. She cut off her nose to spite her face.

3. When Philip looked at the first question on the test and knew he could not answer it, he became frustrated and refused to go on to the next question. He failed the test when he might have passed. He cut off his nose to spite his face.

4. Isaac dropped out of school because he wanted to make his father angry; years later, he realized that he had cut off his nose to spite his face.