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tit-for-tat. adjective [ before noun ] usually disapproving uk / tɪt.fə r ˈtæt / us / ˌtɪt fɚ ˈtæt /. done intentionally to punish other people because they have done something unpleasant to you: Recent months have seen a pattern of tit-for-tat killings between the two sides.
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 ...
Tit for Tat Meaning. When we say “tit for tat,” we’re trying to describe a situation where someone retaliates against someone else by doing the same thing that was done to them or even something worse. It’s like saying “an eye for an eye” or “a tooth for a tooth,” which you’ve probably seen in movies or read in books.
May 1, 2024 · Tit for tat is meaner — it’s when someone does something like hit or steal something from someone, and the other person does something equally nasty back. This phrase is related to the saying "Let the punishment fit the crime."
a situation in which you do something bad to somebody because they have done the same to you. Want to learn more? Definition of tit for tat noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
The earliest known use of the phrase tit for tat is in the mid 1500s. OED's earliest evidence for tit for tat is from 1546, in the writing of John Heywood, playwright and epigrammatist. tit for tat is formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: tit n.3, for prep., English tat.
TIT FOR TAT definition: doing something bad to someone because they have done something bad to you. Learn more.
