add fuel to the fire

present singular third person adds fuel to the fire · participle present adding fuel to the fire · participle past added fuel to the fire · past added fuel to the fire · alternative add fuel to fire · alternative add flame to the fire

1. idiomaticTo worsen a conflict between people; to inflame an already tense situation.

   Instead of apologizing to his girlfriend, he decided to add fuel to the fire.

   2 more examples

   But this had no effect, only to add fuel to the fire; so that, at last, both parties were so exasperated, that, had not the magistrates of Frankfort (who were now head of the English reformed church) interposed, they were on the point of coming to blows.

   1839, Charles Dodd, edited by Mark Aloysius Tierney, Dodd's Church History of England, volume 2

   […] and to admit women into active participation in politics will certainly be to increase disorder and add fuel to the fire of strife.

   1891, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, volume 54

   Synonyms: add insult to injury, fan the flames, add fuel to the flame, pour gasoline on the fire, throw gasoline on the fire, throw gas on the fire, add insult to injury, cap it all off · Antonyms: pour oil on troubled waters, clear the air

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see add, fuel, fire.