fight fire with fire
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Either from the practice of starting back fires to prevent the uncontrolled spread of wildfires, or from gunfire which is fought by firing back at the enemy.
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb[edit]
fight fire with fire (third-person singular simple present fights fire with fire, present participle fighting fire with fire, simple past and past participle fought fire with fire)
- (idiomatic) To respond to an attack with a similar or identical counter-attack (e.g. to respond to gunfire with reciprocal gunfire).
- 1983, Talking Heads (lyrics and music), “Burning Down the House”, in Speaking in Tongues:
- Close enough but not too far / Maybe you know where you are / Fightin' fire with fire
- 2010 July 27, Blizzard, quoting Firebat, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, v1.0, Blizzard Entertainment, Microsoft Windows:
- Fight fire with fire
Translations[edit]
respond to an attack with a counter-attack