fight fire with fire
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 (General Australian): (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, “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
- 2025 October 27, Russell Berman, “‘California Is Allowed to Hit Back’”, in The Atlantic[1]:
- The Democratic Party’s organizers have found plenty of voters who are eager for the chance to stand against the president and, in Newsom’s words, “fight fire with fire” in the gerrymandering wars.
Translations
[edit]respond to an attack with a counter-attack