tit-for-tat

adjective

Having the characteristic of returning bad for bad.

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

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

adjectivetit-for-tat (not comparable)
  1. not comparableHaving the characteristic of returning bad for bad.

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

    2 more examples

    Amid fears that the end to more than five and a half years of talks would lead to a new era of tit-for-tat protectionism, negotiations between the United States and the European Union broke down.

    2007 June 22, The Guardian, London

    It’s been nearly four years since China put tariffs on American-grown soybeans during a tit-for-tat trade war with then-President Donald Trump – and they remain in place despite the change in administrations.

    2022 May 8, Katie Lobosco, “Trump’s trade war looms over soybean farmers 4 years later”, in CNN

Origin

From tit for tat.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

tit-for-tat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tit-for-tat

MLA

“tit-for-tat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tit-for-tat. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tit-for-tat,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tit-for-tat.

Source: tit-for-tat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.