on one's head

1. Also, on one's own head. As one's responsibility or fault, as in If the police catch you speeding it's on your own head. This idiom, dating from the 1300s, conjures up the image of blame or guilt falling on someone's head. Also see off one's head.

Example Sentences

It’s mostly not acceptable to go about daily life dressed as a matchbox or wearing a bird’s nest, rubbish, or lobster claws on one’s head, even if it is designed by Dior.

From Slate

Throughout social media, users described the band as “disrespectful” and “blonder than the Aryan gringos,” as well as “pochos” A piñata maker in Tamaulipas made effigies of the siblings, rendering them with darker skin, loincloths and nopales on one’s head: hateful caricatures that are used to malign Indigenous people in Mexico, and are often aimed at Mexicans who are perceived to deny their heritage.

From Los Angeles Times

As Gen Z navigates the pandemic world, a tuft of fluffy hair perched on one’s head is surely one way to peacock, or perhaps even signal to older generations that the views and ideals of those coming up are unlike those who came before.

From New York Times

Beanies make it easier to spin on one’s head.

From New York Times

One need not strap on ski boots or stand on one’s head to stay fit in old age.

From New York Times

Related Words

• convicted 
• culpable 
• liable 
• remorseful 
• responsible 
• sorry 
• wrong