fighting fire with fire
Countering with same
Fighting fire with fire means responding to an attack or threat using the same methods as your opponent.
The phrase comes from the firefighting technique of setting controlled burns to deprive an advancing blaze of fuel.
In general use, it suggests matching aggression with aggression or tactics with tactics: When the smear campaign started, we decided to fight fire with fire.
- backburningDeliberate preventive burning
- retaliationPunitive response to injury
- aggressionHostile or attacking behavior
- controlled burnIntentional fire for land management
- firebreakCleared barrier against flames
proverb · escalation · idiom · prescribed fire · eye for an eye · deterrence · defensiveness · countermeasures · assertiveness · reverse psychology · intervention · paradox · tit-for-tat · taste of their own medicine · two wrongs · suppression · ignition source · compromise
fighting fire with firekilling with kindness
Harm through excessive benevolence
de-escalation · passive resistance · walking away · appeasement · peaceful resistance
fighting fire with firenonviolent resistance
Protest through peaceful means
pacifism · forgiveness · nonviolence · civil disobedience · moral high ground
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