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Question

Choose the correct meaning of the idiom given below:

"Hoist with one's own petard"

This question was previously asked in
SSC Selection Post 2025 Graduate Level Question Paper (29-Aug-2025) (Shift 1)
The correct answer is

Be hurt by one's own scheme

Be hurt by one's own scheme is correct.

A “petard” was a small bomb used in the sixteenth century to blow open gates; “hoist” is the old past participle of “hoise” (to lift). To be “hoist with one’s own petard” literally meant to be blown up by one’s own bomb. The phrase comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Figuratively, it means to be harmed by the very plan or trick one intended for someone else. Example: the clerk who forged the records to frame his colleague was hoist with his own petard when the forgery was traced to him.

The phrase has nothing to do with celebrating early, escaping cleverly or helping another person succeed.

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