tit for tat

See synonyms for tit for tat on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. with an equivalent given in retaliation, as a blow for a blow, repartee, etc.: He answered their insults tit for tat.

Origin of tit for tat

1
First recorded in 1550–60; perhaps variant of earlier tip for tap

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use tit for tat in a sentence

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

    Unwritten Literature of Hawaii | Nathaniel Bright Emerson
  • 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.

    The World of Homer | Andrew Lang
  • Was she saying to herself that this was tit-for-tat; a riposte for his "Sibyl" of their talk in the morning?

    It Never Can Happen Again | William De Morgan
  • He had declared war against Bence; henceforth, he vowed, the tit-for-tat policy should be pursued with implacable thoroughness.

    Mrs. Thompson | William Babington Maxwell

British Dictionary definitions for tit for tat

tit for tat

noun
  1. an equivalent given in return or retaliation; blow for blow

Origin of tit for tat

1
C16: from earlier tip for tap

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

Cultural definitions for tit for tat

tit for tat

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

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Other Idioms and Phrases with tit for tat

tit for tat

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.

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