fight fire with fire

1. Combat an evil or negative circumstances by reacting in kind. For example, When the opposition began a smear campaign, we decided to fight fire with fire. Although ancient writers from Plato to Erasmus cautioned that one should not add fire to fire, this warning is not incorporated in the idiom, which was first recorded in Shakespeare's Coriolanus.

Example Sentences

“All you can do is fight fire with fire.”

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He is now pushing Democrats to follow his lead and fight fire with fire - something he argues the party hasn't been willing to do in the past.

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With Proposition 50, Newsom has cast the redistricting counterpunch as a moral imperative, arguing that Democrat-led states must “fight fire with fire,” even if it means pausing a state independent redistricting process largely considered the gold standard.

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“We started to fight fire with fire,” says Kellogg associate professor Sébastien Martin, who created the tool—not as a shortcut but to slow students down and force them to think and engage.

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It’s necessary to fight fire with fire — and in this case, that means fighting performance with performance.

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