Word.ws English Dictionary

gave as good as one got

gave as good as one got is the simple past of give as good as one gets.

Meaning of give as good as one gets

Verb

give as good as one gets (third-person singular simple present gives as good as one gets, present participle giving as good as one gets, simple past gave as good as one got, past participle given as good as one got)

  1. (idiomatic) To behave toward others in a manner resembling or commensurate with their behavior towards oneself, especially in a situation where one is insulted or otherwise ill-treated.
    • On balance, it was harsh on Hearts, who had given as good as they got against their more-fancied opponents, who, despite not being at full strength, fielded a multi-million pound team.2012 August 23, Alasdair Lamont, “Hearts 0-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport

Questions about gave as good as one got

What is gave as good as one got the simple past of?
Gave as good as one got is the simple past of give as good as one gets.

Words near gave as good as one got in the dictionary

  1. gave a sneck posset
  2. gave a tin shit
  3. gave about
  4. gave against
  5. gave an inch
  6. gave as good as one got
  7. gave away
  8. gave away the farm
  9. gave away the store
  10. gave back
  11. gave battle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gave as good as one got (page history and authors); give as good as one gets (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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