bring a knife to a gunfight

present singular third person brings a knife to a gunfight · participle present bringing a knife to a gunfight · participle past brought a knife to a gunfight · past brought a knife to a gunfight · alternative take a knife to a gunfight

1. idiomaticTo enter into a confrontation or other challenging situation without being adequately equipped or prepared.

   Isn't that just like a wop? Brings a knife to a gun fight.

   1987, David Mamet, The Untouchables

   2 more examples

   That is why one should never bring a knife to a gunfight, a worm should not challenge Godzilla, and a chump should never box a boxer.

   1994, Gus Lee, China Boy, →ISBN, page 310

   [W]e can shoot down missiles. . . . Our Kingfisher sonars can detect mines. . . . Our ships are hardened against chemical and biological weapons. But how do you stop a torpedo? . . . The best engineers in the business agree that nearly every class of torpedo currently being deployed has the capacity to sink one of our ships with a single shot. . . . [W]e are the poor bastards that brought a knife to a gunfight.

   2006, Jeff Edwards, Torpedo, →ISBN, page xiii