Idiom
fight fire with fire
Meaning
To respond to an attack with a similar or identical counter-attack (e.g. to respond to gunfire with reciprocal gunfire).
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“If they are rude to you, do not fight fire with fire.”
“You should not fight fire with fire when your neighbor plays loud music.”
“The company decided to fight fire with fire by launching an aggressive advertising campaign against their main competitor.”
“When the opposing team started playing very aggressively, our coach told us to fight fire with fire and increase our physical pressure on the field.”
“Rather than seeking a diplomatic resolution, the nation chose to fight fire with fire, responding to the trade sanctions with equally severe tariffs.”
Examples
simple
“If they are rude to you, do not fight fire with fire.”
“You should not fight fire with fire when your neighbor plays loud music.”
contextual
“The company decided to fight fire with fire by launching an aggressive advertising campaign against their main competitor.”
“When the opposing team started playing very aggressively, our coach told us to fight fire with fire and increase our physical pressure on the field.”
complex
“Rather than seeking a diplomatic resolution, the nation chose to fight fire with fire, responding to the trade sanctions with equally severe tariffs.”
Origin
The idiom arises from two distinct tactical necessities. It is attributed either to the practice of igniting controlled back-burns to deprive an approaching wildfire of fuel, or to the exchange of gunfire, wherein an enemy's discharge is answered with a volley of one's own. Both origins describe the application of a hazardous force to neutralise an identical threat.
Key words
Related idioms
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