Tit-for-tat

adj

adj ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Having the characteristic of returning bad for bad. not-comparable

    "Unfortunately, many adults retain a tit-for-tat attitude, but in a more refined way than the simple, childish shove for shove."

Example

More examples

"There is no such a thing as a tit-for-tat response in a nuclear war."

Etymology

From tit for tat.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.