{"id":10540,"date":"2022-11-16T22:16:37","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T22:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=10540"},"modified":"2022-11-16T22:16:37","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T22:16:37","slug":"fighting-fire-with-fire-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/fighting-fire-with-fire-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting Fire with Fire \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Did someone insult you? It\u2019s time to start <strong><em>\u201cfighting fire with fire.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>The expression <em>\u201cfighting fire with fire\u201d<\/em> means to <u>use the same tactics or weapons as the enemy when engaging in combat or verbal arguments<\/u>. For instance, if someone is being hostile to you, you\u2019ll need to <u>match their aggressive tone<\/u> to ensure they <u>don\u2019t take advantage of you.<\/u><\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\"These people want to play us like that? It's time to start fighting fire with fire. We'll hit them back with the same level of fury they use on us.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"The president says he will start fighting fire with fire in the war. He says we're not going t back down no matter what the enemy does to our troops.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"We're fighting fire with fire over here. If these idiots want to take it to the next level, we'll step our game up and meet them on a level playing field.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"It's time to fight fire with fire. We're not backing down or giving up our ground. Get the weapons, and we'll take them.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"Wow, that comedian was fighting fire with fire on stage. The heckler was mocking her, but she just rolled with the punches and turned the crowd against him.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"We can fight fire with fire, but what's the point? We're just going to escalate the situation to a point where nobody wins. Let's negotiate a truce.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"Things are heating up between the contestants. It looks like Ronnie is fighting fire with fire in response to Kim's last effort.\"<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-10541\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Fighting-Fire-with-Fire.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"226\" height=\"180\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-10542\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Fighting-Fire-with-Fire2-300x240.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"228\" height=\"182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Fighting-Fire-with-Fire2-300x240.png 300w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Fighting-Fire-with-Fire2.png 484w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The expression \"fighting fire with fire\" originates from the pen of the legendary playwright William Shakespeare. Shakespeare uses the phrase in his play, \"King John,\" published in 1595, where it reads as follows.<\/p>\n<p>\"Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire; Threaten the threatener and outface the brow of bragging horror.\"<\/p>\n<p>The modern variation of the phrase dates to the 1800s. It derives from the practice of fighting fires using fire. This method of firefighting was popular in the United States during the early days of the pioneers. At the time, firefighters were volunteers and didn't have any modern firefighting tools or methods.<\/p>\n<p>The firefighters would set a \"fire break\" in the path of a larger forest fire to burn off the material needed by the fire to spread to the community and destroy property. The method is still in use today.<\/p>\n<p>However, the modern use of the phrase meaning to escalate your activity to the level of others appeared in the early 1900s. There is no information on who coined the term or its first appearance in the media.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Florida Firefighters Fight Wildfires with Fire\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BN2w3oib9uU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to a Fighting Fire with Fire<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Get some payback.<\/li>\n<li>Exchange blows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to a Fighting Fire with Fire<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Back down.<\/li>\n<li>Give up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Fighting fire with fire.<\/li>\n<li>Fight fire with fire.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say a Fighting Fire with Fire Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>The phrase \"fighting fire with fire\" has nothing to do with firefighters or fighting fires. It's a way of saying you need to meet another person's level of aggression or hostility towards you using the same methods they use on you.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase a Fighting Fire with Fire<\/h2>\n<p>You can use the expression \"fighting fire with fire\" to describe situations where you need to counter a person's action or words with similar levels of hostility. It suits professional and social problems. For instance, you could tell your marketing team to \"fight fire with fire\" after a competitor launches a similar ad campaign to yours, and you want to remain competitive in the market.<\/p>\n<p>You could tell your kid to \"fight fire with fire\" when confronting a bully teasing them at school. The phrase suits vernal exchanges and text-based communications. The term \"fighting fire with fire\" isn't offensive; it refers to raising your level of engagement to meet another person's output.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Did someone insult you? It\u2019s time to start \u201cfighting fire with fire.\u201d This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression. Meaning The expression \u201cfighting fire with fire\u201d means to use the same tactics or weapons as the enemy when engaging in combat or verbal arguments. For instance, if someone is being hostile to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10543,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10540\/revisions\/10543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}