add fuel to the fire

Verb

add fuel to the fire (third-person singular simple present adds fuel to the fire, present participle adding fuel to the fire, simple past and past participle added fuel to the fire)

1. (idiomatic) To 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.
   • 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

   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, cap it all off, make matters worse, With malice, hit someone when they are down

   Antonyms:

   pour oil on troubled waters, clear the air

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