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View synonyms for tit for tat

tit for tat

noun

  1. with an equivalent given in retaliation, as a blow for a blow, repartee, etc.:

    He answered their insults tit for tat.



tit for tat

noun

  1. an equivalent given in return or retaliation; blow for blow
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


tit for tat

  1. Giving back exactly what one receives: “If you hit me, I'll do the same to you; it's tit for tat.”


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Word History and Origins

Origin of tit for tat1

First recorded in 1550–60; perhaps variant of earlier tip for tap
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tit for tat1

C16: from earlier tip for tap
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Idioms and Phrases

Repayment in kind, retaliation, as in If he won't help with the beach clean-up, I won't run a booth at the bake sale; that's tit for tat . This term is believed to be a corruption of tip for tap , which meant “a blow for a blow.” Its current form dates from the mid-1500s.
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Example Sentences

Given the potential for a cyber tit-for-tat to escalate, Obama has even more incentive to find a diplomatic solution.

Other feminist sites have championed objectifying men in tit-for-tat fashion as empowering women.

This series of tit-for-tat bombings has created the most violent and volatile dynamic in Lebanon since the end of the civil war.

But the brewing scandal is about more than political tit-for-tat.

An argument over money provokes tit-for-tat hostage-takings between guerrilla commanders.

It requires some study to make out who is the speaker in the tit-for-tat of the dialogue.

Mr. Stanges play was an amusing comedy, dealing with domestic infelicityof the tit-for-tat orderin the old style.

It was therefore but tit-for-tat when Minos sent Athenian tributary boys and girls to fight his bull, the bullheaded Minotaur.

Was she saying to herself that this was tit-for-tat; a riposte for his "Sibyl" of their talk in the morning?

He had declared war against Bence; henceforth, he vowed, the tit-for-tat policy should be pursued with implacable thoroughness.

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More About Tit For Tat

What does tit for tat mean?

Tit for tat is used to refer to a situation in which an action or retaliation is equivalent to the action that it is done in response to.

The phrase is most often used in the context of a wrong being committed against someone who then does the same or a similar thing to the person who did it to them, as in If you break my stuff, I break yours—it’s tit for tat.

Tit for tat is often used after the verb go, as in The two of them were going tit for tat, trading insults one after another.

The phrase is sometimes hyphenated, as tit-for-tat.

Example: Until I made a mistake, the chess game was tit for tat, with each of us capturing pieces back and forth.

Where does tit for tat come from?

The first records of the phrase tit for tat come from the mid-1500s. The first recorded uses of it are by English playwright John Heywood. It’s thought to be a variant of the earlier phrase tip for tap, in which both tip and tap mean “a small blow” (as in a hit or punch).

The phrase an eye for an eye is similar, but is most commonly used in the context of justice.

Tit for tat is sometimes used to mean something similar to quid pro quo, which is used in situations in which something is offered only when something is given in return. Quid pro quo may be especially associated with tit for tat because the Latin phrase is sometimes translated as the similar-sounding “this for that.” However, quid pro quo is not usually used to refer to retaliation.

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What are some other forms related to tit for tat?

  • tit-for-tat (alternate hyphenated spelling)

What are some synonyms for tit for tat?

What are some words that share a root or word element with tit for tat?

What are some words that often get used in discussing tit for tat?

How is tit for tat used in real life?

Tit for tat is usually used in negative contexts involving some kind of retaliation.

Try using tit for tat!

Is tit for tat used correctly in the following sentence?

It was an extremely close debate—the teams went tit for tat.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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